Shetlig, Haakon, gen. ed. - Viking Antiquities in Great Britain and Ireland, v. 1

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-UMij

THE SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH FUND OF

1919

VIKING ANTIQUITIES IN

GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND EDITED BY

HAAKON SHETELIG

PART

I

AN INTRODUCTION TO THE VIKING HISTORY OF WESTERN EUROPE BY

HAAKON SHETELIG

OSLO H.

1940

ASCHEHOUG (W.

&

CO

NYGAARD) .>

S

VIKING ANTIQUITIES IN

GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND PART

I

Digitized by the Internet Archive in

2009 with funding from Boston Public Library

http://www.archive.org/details/vikingantiquitie01scie

THE SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH FUND OF

1919

VIKING ANTIQUITIES IN

GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND EDITED BY

HAAKON SHETELIG

PART

I

AN INTRODUCTION TO THE VIKING HISTORY OF WESTERN EUROPE BY

HAAKON SHETELIG

OSLO H.

1940

ASCHEHOUG (W.

nv<;aari))

& CO.

^.1

^J^H DZl

Printed

in

Norway

AS JOHN GRIEGS BOKTRYKKERI. BERGEN

1 CT-

N)

PREFACE The Scientific Research Fund of 1919 decided, from Ihat siame year, to undertake a compreihenisive inv'estiigiat'iion of the Vikiing remains in- the British Isles as ome of the prinoipal objecls of its activity. As members of the Comimi'ttee for plainining and directing the research, the Trustees of the Fund appointed the late Profeissor Dr. Edv. Bull together with the undensigned Magnus Olsen and Jac. S. Worm-MUller, and placed at their Dr. Rei^lar dispoisal the means required for carrying on the work. Christiansen was chairged with the task of tracing possible reminiscences

Viking wars and settlements in miodern British folk-lore, and his have yielded a rich return of popular traditions which are now accessible in his publications. At the same time Dr. .4. W. Brogqer and Dr. Haakon SheteUg were asked to join the Committee to plan a scheme for collecting and publishing a complete account of the Viking Antiquities found in the Britisli Isles. On the British side the directors of the central museums, Mr. J. Graham Callander of the Nationial Museum of Scotland, Mr. Eeginald A. Smith of the British Museum, and Professor R. C. A. Macallister, of the Royal Irish .'Academy, most obligingly promised their assistance. Throughout the work the Committee enjoyed the privilege of counting these emiineiit scholars of British archaeology ais active collaborators, to whom, in particular, we here exprei^s our warmietst thanks for their most valuable contributions to our work. The actual task of collecting the materials was undertaken by Norwegian archaeolcgists during journeys in the British Isles, Herr of the

travels

Anathon Bjorn, of the Oslo University Museum, being respon-sible for Englaind, Dr. Johs. Boe, of the Bergen Museum, for Ireland, and Dr. SignnI Grieg, of the Oslo Universiity Museum, for Soolland. As the work went on. the Committee found it advisable that the scheme should also include a survey of corresponding antiquities on the Ccintinent. For this purpose Dr. Shetelig visited a number of museums in France, while Dr. Boe and Dr. Grieg contributed additional informialiicim from Belgium, Holland and North Germany. Further, there was includied a complete catalogiie of

Viking period found

in Norway, by Dr. Jan Petersen of the Stavanger Museum, and finally the Committee thought it expedient to give a summiary of Viking history in Western Europe as an introduction to the special records of antiquities.

British

antiquities

of the

Dr. Shetelig undertook the task of editing the present publication of the materials collected, but each of the several sections has been written by the author specially respcmijible for that part of the contents of the work. Herr Th. GledUsch has traimslated the text into English from the authors' niianuscripts,

with the exception of the parts containing the accounts of

England and the Continent. Mr. Reginald A. Smith has been kind enough to

read the printer's proofs of these parts. Finally,

we have

we must

record cur grateful reocgniition of the valuable help

received from British colleagues and friends during the prepara-

tion of the present work.

their generous

The taik would mot have been possible without

assistainios.

We

are indebted, furthenmiore, to numeroiis

and private collections for the generous permission

museums,

institutions,

to obtain

photographs for the

illustratioins.

Oslo 1939.

Magnus

Olsen.

Jac. S.

Worm-Miiller.

CONTENTS Preface. I.

II.

The Relationis belweein Western Europe before The

Vii
Scandinavian North and the Vii
Expeditions to Western Europe.

Characterization III.

IV.

V.

10

The Orkney Earls and The

Isle

Ireland.

of

the Hebrides

21

Man

36

The Norwegian Invasion under

Torgisl and

Olav the White VI.

Ireland.

VII. VIII. IX.

46

The Kings

of Clontarf

of Ivar's

Race down

62 79

Greiat

Unification of England under the

The Northmen and

to the Battle

D

1014 A.

England under Alfred the

The

the

Wessex

Frankish Empire

in

Kiings

XI. XII.

Gotfred

105 in Frisia

and Rollo

Spain and Africa

The Danish Conquest List of

88

the 9th

Century X.

1

in

Normandy ^"~7r~~rT~-

of

134

.-.

England

Books and Papers quoted

General Index

119

141 .

.

.-r-r:—rr7.

.

153 155

CHAPTER

I.

THE RELATIONS BETWEEN THE SCANDINAVIAN NORTH AND WESTERN EUROPE BEFORE THE VIKING PERIOD. At the period immediately preceding A. D. 800 we are on the verge of that strange epoch of European history in which nearly all the coasts and lands of our part of the world were visited by marauding warriors poured The Viking raids appear suddenly and forth by the Scandinavian North. dramatically in the historical records, as an unsuspected calamity, as something entirely novel and surprising. A well-known anecdote, significant of the sentiments of the time, tells us of Charlemagne, about 800 A. D., seeing from a hill on the coast of Southern France a fleet of foreign ships in the offing, and shedding tears in a presentiment of the calamities these ships betokened for France: Maxima dolore torqueor quia praevideo quanta mala posteris meis et eorum sint facturi subjectis». And the first report of a Viking raid in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle gives us the same impression. In the land of the Northumbrians awful portents were noted A. D. 793, striking terror into the hearts of the people; there were dreadful thunder-storms, and fiery dragons were seen flying in the air. These omens were succeeded by wide-spread starvation, and shortly after, on June 8 in the same year, heathen men destroyed the church of God in Lindisfame in a terrible way, pillaging and killing. The heathens put some of the monks and nuns to the sword, drowning others in the sea. There was consternation throughout Christendom. Biskop Alcuin, while

—

—

;

staying in

Germany

to carry out his

missionary work, wrote a consolatory

—

—

which he voices in the very terms used above the impression made by an entirely unknown and unexpected enemy having appeared in the country. Alcuin says that nobody had believ^ed such a crossletter to English priests in

ing of the sea possible.

Another passage

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, entered A. D. 787, gives same impression. In that year King Beohtric of Wessex (786 802) married Offa's daughter Eadburge. In his days three ships manned by in the

—

the

cNorthmen,
country. 1

—

Viking Antiquities.

Chapter

2

I

For he did not know where they were from. But they offered resistance, and killed the earl. These were the first ships manned with Danish men going to the land of the Angles.

undoubtedly true that the first attack of the Vikings burst upon the world as an inexplicable surprise. In that respect we may rely with certainty on the information, given by the annals, of ravages of churches and monasteries; for events of that kind were sure to be recorded by ecclesiastical writers. These records refer to the devastation of St. Culhbert's island, Lindisfame, and also two years later to the plundering of the Irish island of Rechru, with the church and shrine of St. Columba. The silence of the preceding records are in this case sufficient evidence that calamities of this kind had not happened before. But the outrush of Vikings may for all that well have been prepared during the periods immediately preceding the first actual raids. And looking at the matter from an archaeological point of view we cannot entirely share Alcuin's surprise at the sail fromi HgereSaland» The North Sea had been navigated long before the to the coast of England. end of the 8th century. Such an enterprise as the voyage of Pytheas from the Orkneys to Thule is only conceivable on the supposition that the crossing of It is

<;

the sea

was known

to the natives in the 4th century B. C.

visited other Scandinavian coasts as well;

Himmerland trade of

in Jutland

Roman

on

its

The same

and the Roman

expedition to the Baltic A. D.

fleet 5.

traveller

touched

at

The external

Gaul, starting from the mouth of the Rhine, took

its

course

Elbe and to Holstein, and went on from there to Denmark and the Scandinavian peninsula. It is probable that the trade in Roman goods was gradually extended even to Norway, to the Oslo fjord and to the west coast to the

of Norway.'

onwards we meet with clear archaeological evidence between the lands of the eastern coast of the North Sea (from the mouth of the Rhine to Jutland and Norway), and a little later From the 6th of intercourse between Norway and Anglo-Saxon England. incurrecords of Scandinavian preserved two century Frankish sources have sions into Frisia. The first record was made by Gregory of Tours, A. D. 512, when Chochilaicus devastated the land of the Attuarii between the Rhine and the IVIeuse (Guelderland) and was killed in a battle against the Frankish king's son Theudebert, which event is also related in the Beowulf epic about Hygelac king of the Geats, and remembered once more at the death of Beowulf, when the king foresaw impending trouble from the Franks and the

From

the 4th century

of close mutual relations

Frisians darkening the future.

'

II,

Bjorn Housen:

Oslo 1929, p. 75.

Half a century

Trekk av ostnorsk

roiiierlid,

later,

Venantius Fortunatus

Universitetets Oldsakssanilings skritter

Chapter praised

Duke Lupus

of

and Danes on the river

Champagne

3

I

for having gained a victory over Saxons

Louwers on the

frontier of Groningen, in 565 A. D.

Warlike expeditions like these must, of course, have had continued peaceful trade relations as their background. And this is actually proved by archaeological evidence, viz. by bronzes and glasses imported into Norway from Northern France in the 5th and 6th centuries.- On an earlier occasion-^ I have also tried to point out the very direct connections between Western Norway and Merovingian France seen to have existed from about the year 600 onwards. We particularly notice that certain innovations in Frankish arming at that time have been adopted in Norway at the same time, and in identical forms, while these

influences are not equally perceptible in the

Another addition to our insight into these connections between the Scandinavian peninsula and Western Europe has been made by Professor 0. von Friesen of Uppsala prothe study of runic inscriptions. fesses to prove that the personal names of Norwegian and Swedish inscriptions from the Migration period are to a considerable extent not Scandinavian, but West-Germanic, Frankish and Frisian.* The author points at the trade between Western Europe and Scandinavia, first and foremost at the trade in Scandinavian furs, a highly appreciated kind of export, mentioned by Jordanes in the 6th century. According to von Friesen the personal contact with West-Germanic traders was so regularly kept up that it might leave rest of Scandinavia.

distinct traces in the

preference of these foreign names in the Scandinavian

peninsula. It

was, too, these trade relations that

made the present Dutch territory The Romans had already

a desirable possession for the Frankish kings.

secured the river trade and the river-mouths by fortifications and garrisons. But from the middle of the 5th century local Frisian tribes had again taken possession as independent owners of the land. And with the 6th century the advances of the Franks begin aiming at regaining the old northern frontier of the Romans and securing for the Frankish kingdom the mouth of the Rhine. From this time considerable Frankish cemeteries have been discovered testifying to the colonising of the country by foreign elements from the south. The progress is corroborated by contemporary historical evidence, the Frankish king Theudebert writing to the Emperor Justinianus that he had beaten the Saxons and extended his dominion to the sea. It is possible that ' Anathon Bjorn: Bronsekar osj glassbegre fra folkevandringstiden Norge, Kgl. Norske " Videnskabers Selskabs Skrifter 1929, nr. 6. Trondhjem 1929, p. 43. Shetelig: Nye jernaldersfund pa Vestlandet, Berg. Mus. Arbok 1916— 17. Historisk-antikvarisk rekke nr. 2, * By the same author: Prehistoire de la Norvege, pp. 19C— 197. Otto von p. 81. Friesen: Rostenen i Bohuslan och Runorna i Norden under Folkevandringstiden, Uppsala i

—

Universitels Arsskrift 1924.

Chapter

4

1

Prankish expansion towards the north may have occasioned the two encounters witli the Geats and the Danes mentioned above as recorded in the 6th century. Very likely, the Danes may have felt their interests in Frisia threatened by this advance of the Franks. The Frank immigration followed the very same lines as the earlier Roman occupation, the Franks actually establishing themselves in some of the ruined Roman forts. We find the Franks settled chiefly "on the largest water-courses, above all on the mouth of the Rhine. The confluence of the Vecht and the Rhine was, may-be, the most important point, an ancient Roman fortress, which was now rebuilt as a Merovingian castle and became the site of a catheBut during the disorganised dral, Traiectum vetus, the present Utrecht. conditions prevailing in the Prankish kingdom in the 7th century the Merovingian king did not succeed in holding his advanced Northern frontier. The land was evidently abandoned from the beginning of the 7th century, all Holland was remains of Prankish settlements disappearing at that time. again seized by native tribes, though only fcr a timis, it is true. When the kingdom of the Pranks was once more restored by the vigoroois majordomo Pepin d'Heristal, his first step was to secure the northern possessions on the Rhine, by the victory at Dorestad in 689. The Prankish dominion over Holland was thus firmly established at the opening of the 8th century.^ Immediately before the Viking period, the name of the famous «emporium Dorestad is to be met with in historical records, Dorestad being one of the most important marts of Northern Europe during the 8th and 9th cenThanks to the admirable excavaition of Professor Holwerda the turies. history of the town can now be distinctly traced." At the confluence of the river Lek and the Rhine a Prankish royal castle was built about the middle of the 8th century, and possibly by Charles the Great himself, probably on this

the site of a

Roman

castellum.

Between the bailey and the riverside a

village

soon sprang up, at first of moderate size, but soon considerably enlarged and lay the long fortified with pallisades and gates. Here along the river marketing-street more than one kilometer in length, and of wide-spread fame

—

—

in

its

In spite of Scandinavian plunderings Dorestad maintained

time.

position as a centre of the trade of till

it

was

at last

Northern Europa

destroyed by a natural catastrophe,

that laid these tracts waste in the year 864. that the ancient

for

Rhine mouth was

silted

It

up and

was

more than 100 viz.

its

years,

the mighty flood

in the 9th century, too,

lost its

importance for navi-

° J. H. Holwerda: De Franken in Nederland, Oudheidkundige Mededeelingen, nieuwe " Reeks V, Leiden, 1924. J. H. Holwerda: Dorestad en onze vroegste Middeleeuwen, Leiden, 1924. By the same author: Opgravingen van Dorestad, Oiidlieidkuiidige Mededeelingen, nieuwe Reeks XI, 1930.

—

Chapter gation.

The saga

of Dorestad

ment from A. D. 948 the place called

was is

5

I

finished, never to be resumed.

In a docu-

described as «the former villa Dorestad,

now

Wijk\

its palmy days DoTestad was perhaps the most important mart of Europe, the central agency of the exchange of goods between the Northern Rhine, the North Sea littorals, and Scandinavia. An interesting glimpse of these relations has accidentally been opened up to us through Rimbert's

Durinig

description of Anscarius's mission to Denmark and Sweden from 827 to 830, on which mission he visited the two most important commercial towns of the North, Hedeby in Schleswig and Birka in Uppland. There were even at this early time many Christians in Schleswig who had been baptised at Dorestad or Hamburg. It is also recorded that a Swedish woman sent her daughter to Doresitad to give the goods she left, to poor Christians. At the folk-mote or «thing» at Birka an old man stated that in former days people had often gone from Birka to Dorestad and had become Christians of their own free will, but that such voyages had at his time become very dangerous, as Vikings made all travelling by sea unsafe. These connections had been established long before the middle of the 9th century, and received a fresh impetus through the closer political contact created by the advance of tlie kingdom of Charles the Great to the Elbe and Holstein. During his struggle with the Saxons, about 780, when their chief Widukind found support and protection in Jutland, the Danish king Sigfred, too, came several times in direct contact with Charles the Great (in 777 and 782). The first Danish chieftain mentioned at the court of Charlemagne was Ogier le Danois himself, < Olger Daniae dux>, in 788, when with the assistance of the king, he rebuilt St. Martin's monastery near Cologne. A Danish prince, Halvdan, came to the emperor in 807 with a numerous retinue, paid homage to him and received the island of Walcheren as a fief. A certain Heming, son of Halvdan, killed by the Northmen thirty years later in Walcheren, was probably his son. This immigration from Denmark into Frisia was not a unique occurrence. In a law deed from the year 834 two out of six witnesses bear Danish names, viz. Bern (i. e. Bjom) and Knut, both these witnesses being resident in the neighbourhood of Amheim.' We have, indeed, only few and scattered features to adduce in this connection, but no more could be expected from the very imperfect historical sources left us from this period. But scanty though the records are, they suffice to indicate a not inconsiderable immigration of Danes into Frisia about 800, and this immigration can only have been possible on the presup-

—

—

Johannes C. H. R. Steenstrup: Nornianiurne arhundrede, Kjobenhavn 1898, p. 29. '

II,

Vikingetogene

mot vest

i

det

Ode

C h

6

a p

t

e r

I

position of very intimate communications in earlier times.

As for Norway the same connections are borne out by the archaeological evidence mentioned above. Our relations to Anglo-Saxon England before the Viking period is

No direct historical information from the pre-Viking time throws on the question of Anglo-Scandinavian relations. This, of course, does not necessarily mean complete isolation. England too kept up a lively intercourse with Frisia and France, and adaptations of historical legends from the Scandinavian North are to be found in Anglo-Saxon heroic poetry. But the question is whether Scandinavians of the pre-Viking period knew the way less clear. light

straight across the sea to the British Isles.

show that they did. Imported Anglo-Saxon origin are indeed extremely rare; I have noted a cruciform brooch and a clasp, both English in form, and both found in Hardanger."* But it is more important that Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian ornaments from the Migration period show a distinct kinship of character so pronounced as to necessitate the conclusion of direct intercourse between Archaeological evidence decidedly goes to

relics of indubitable

the peoples.

This applies to the cruciform brooches, a very characteristic

type whose English forms in the 6th centiiry have adopted features that must

beyond a doubt have been borrowed from contemporary brooches It

in

Norway.

likewise applies to the show-pieces of the time, the large silver brooches

with relief ornaments, and the gold bracteates.

development of the decorative

Above

all

it

applies to the

animal ornamentation in the 6th century. This style is elaborated so exactly along the same lines in Western Scandinavia and in England that we are forced to suppose a very intimate contact between the two areas. Mere influences acting through the Frisian and North-French areas as intermediary agencies are here out of the question, becaus© this kind of animal omamenitation was never properly adopted on the Continent south of the North Sea. It was the common property entirely parallel

style of

England and the North in the last century of the Migration period. Another question perhaps the one that is in this connection of the interest from greatest is this: what were our a Norwegian point of view relations with Scotland and the Isles, Orkney and Shetland? From the earliest records of Norsemen's voyages in the Viking period we learn that our main route led west across the sea to the Orkneys, and from there to England and Ireland. The earldom of Orkney became a starting-point for Norse settlements in Scotland, it became a centre for travels from Norway to the British Isles and to Western Europe generally. Orkney was, as early as the 9th century, a Norwegian outpost of emigration, and many researches of

—

*

The Cruciform Brooches of Norway, Bergens Museums Arbok 1906, No. By the same author: a contribution to Bergens Museums Arbok 1913, No. 13, p.

Shetelig:

p. 113.

—

—

8, 5.

C h have

of late, naturally enough,

question as to

when

a p

t

e r

7

I

been made for the purpose of clearing up the Orkney and Shetland for the

the Norwegians settled in

first time."

We

have very inadequate archaeological material for proving connections with Scotland and the Isles before the Viking period. We have the impression that the islands were then thinly populated, chiefly by Picts, only interspersed with Celtic monks and hermits from Scotland and Ireland. Those people offered the Norway of the Migration and Merovingian periods little opporOne fact, however, that tunity of exchange of goods, or of cultural loans. In the Scandinavian countries a seems incontrovertible may be mentioned. very peculiar kind of strike-a-light, consisting not of flint and steel, but of iron and quartzite, was in use from the Roman period onwards during the Migration period." The quartzite may be a conveniently rounded pebble formed by nature and ready for use without further shaping, or it may be cut into useful shape, as a pointed oval, and adapted to being attached to the girdle. This kind of strike-a-light is very characteristic and was widely used throughout the Scandinavian and Baltic countries. In Western Europe it has been found only within a very limited area, viz. Shetland, Orkney, the In this area we do Hebrides, and the north-eastern point of Ireland.'^ not, however, find the more elaborate strike-a-light stones specially formed for the purpose the specimens found are always small pebbles of quartzite a little flattened, but with the typical marks of wear found in the similar Scandinavian specimens. We find these strike-a-ligths in Scotland and Ireland exactly along the line of the Norwegians moving westwards in the Viking period, and it can hardly be doubted that this type of strike-a-light was imported into these areas from Norway. This kind of strike-a-light had however gone out af use in the course of the 7th century. It is found very often in Norway in graves from the 5th and 6th centuries, but has never been discovered in a grave that may be appreciably younger than about the year 600. In the graves from the 7lh and 8th centuries, on the other hand, we meet with the more modern apparatus, viz. flint and steel, which was to remain the only means of making

—

'

A.

W. Brogger: Den norske boselningen pk Shetland-Orknoene.

det Norske Videnskaps-Akadenii

complete

list of

grants,

A

and

use

earlier literature

i

Oslo, II, Hist. is

jjiven.

—

See

Files. also,

Klasse 1930, No.

ulsjitt

av

Oslo 1930.

A

Skritter 3,

by the same author:

Ancient Emi-

'" 19"29. The apparatus by Georg F. L. Sarauw: Le feu et son eniploi dans le Nord de I'Europe etc. Annates du XXe Congres archeologique et hislorique de Helgique, Gand '' 1907, tome I, p. 211. This information is due to a kind communication given in a letter from Mr. Miller Christie, F.S.A., London, an eminent judge of ancient strike-a-lights. According to Mr. Miller Christie this particular kind of strike-a-light is not found in the

its

History of the Norse .Settlements in Scotland, O.xford is

fully described

British Isles outside the area indicated.

C h

8

a

p

t

e r

1

fire until the matches were discovered. The older kind of strike-a-light must have been transferred to Scotland while it was yet being used in Norway, i.

in the course of the 7th century,

e.

of intercourse across

probably about 600 A. D. This

is

a proof

the North Sea long before the Viking period, even

though it may be no positive proof of Norwegian settlements in the islands. It should be remembered, in this connection, that no Norweigian graves and antiquities dating further back than the beginning of the 9th century, have

been found

in

Orkney and Shetland.

In the discussion of this problem^ the study of Norse plaoe^names in the

Islands holds, of late, a most important place.

research into the place-names of Shetland'-

first, and very eminent, pointed out that there are

In the it

is

groups of names compounded of vin and heim, the two well-known particles of

names

Norway ascribed

that are in

to early parts of the prehistoric iron

We must, on sober consideration of the problem, take into account the incalculable cause age.

At

first

this

statement led to exaggerated inferences.

of error involved in the possibility that, in ancient times too, old

names from

may have been taken into use when emigrants settled in a foreign land. The date of a settlement must accordingly be determined on the basis of the character of the names as a whole, and above all it is required that the decisive names should hold a central and preeminent place. This is not the case with Jacobsen's examples from Shetland. The cases the home-country

mentioned by him, of vin and heim being employed as final particles in It the composition of place-names are very few and somewhat doubtful.'^ can hardly be contended that the place-names afford evidence of a settlement in the isles

As

appreciably earlier than the year 800.

is only one, and that a very doubtworth considering. The event itself is mentioned in a number of Irish annals, and quite certain. On April 17th 617 pirates, arriving in a fleet at Eigg (one of the Hebrides), plundered and burnt down the monastery, killing the abbot Donnan and 52 monks. In the same year Tory Island, too, off Donegal, was laid waste by pirates coming in a fleet, probably the one that had visited Eigg. The annals give no information of the nationality of these pirates, but several scholars hold that this raid must have issued from Norway. This is possible, it being, as we have seen, certain that there was at the time some intercourse between Norway and Scotland; but it is only just possible. This event stands at any rate quite alone, without any connec-

for relevant historical records there

ful one, that

'-

is

Jacob Jacobsen:

Historie,

Kjobenhavn

Shetlands'oernes Sledsnavne, Aarboger for Nordisk Oldkyndighed og 1901, p. 95.

particle of a place-name

is

"

The Composition

of

v

i

n and h e

i

m

as

the

not to be regarded as characteristic of the early Iron Age.

applies only to the composition of v

i

n and

heim

as the final particle.

first

This

C h tion with the expeditions of the

The

of centuries after.

a p

t

e r

9

I

Viking time, which did not begin

till

a couple

silence of the annals proves conclusively that cala-

mities of this kind did not befall the monasteries and the clergy during the long intervening period from 617 to 795.'*

We

have

in these

pages attempted to give a general idea of the circum-

stances introductory to the Viking period, as far as the preceding intercourse

between the countries is concerned. We have seen that the North-Sea trade from the mouth of the Rhine created cormectionis with Scandinavia as early as the days of the Romian Empire, and onwards through the Migration and the Carlovingian periods. Connections between the Scandinavian North and England may be ascertained by archaeological evidence in the Migration time, and we likewise find signs of contact between Scotland and Norway a couple of centuries before the Viking period. The peoples of the North-Sea littorals have not been ignorant of each other; numerous features enable as to follow their exchange of goods and civilisation through long periods. Nor is it by any means impossible that immigration may have taken place, above all, probably, at ports and centres of trade. This is actually suggested in some cases mentioned in the record of the life of St. Anscarius, concerning Scandinavians in Dorestad, and it has been maintained Ihat similar facts must account for foreign personal names in Scandinavian nmic inscriptions from the Migration period.

But as far as we can see,

all this is evidence of trade and peaceful interwas not of rare occurrence in those days; outrages and plunderings may have been frequent. But the positive historical information and from widely varying quarters are to the effect that the frequent Viking raids were a nuisance that only began to spread through Western Europe from the close of the 8th century. We have already men-

course. Fighting, of course,

—

—

tioned statements in the Anglo-Saxon chronicle, in the letter from Alcuin

and from a Swede statement

is

at the

regret that Vikings

the sea.

An

were

794: uastatio

at the

new period omnium insularum

it

is

time disturbing peaceful intercourse across

Irish statement in full

annals, introduces a

The last-mentioned Swede who mentions with a

folk-mote in Birka A. D. 829.

particularly important, because

agreement with

this, viz.

in the Ulster

year plunderings are re-

in the history of the country with the

Britanniae.

corded the next year, and then follow

in

The

first

rapid succession an endless series of

reports about Norwegian attacks on the coasts of Ireland.

'*

Carl .J. S. Marstrander: Bidrag til del norskc folks historie i Inland. Skrifler av Videnskapsselskapet Kristiania 1915, II, Hist.-Filos. klasse, No. .j, p. 1. i

ulgitt

CHAPTER

II.

THE VIKING EXPEDITIONS TO WESTERN EUROPE. CHARACTER ISAT ION. The mighty movement that took its D., was naturally

Viking raids to Western in the time of the Vikings and after regarded with an astonishment that induced many ancient and modern authors to make attempts at finding out the cause of such a comprehensive out-pouring from the North into foreign lands. It must be confessed at once that a definite cause, suddenly effective at that precise period, has never been discovered, and, indeed, can hardly ever be discovered. A desire for easy plunder, or hunger for a richer soil are factors that will exist always and everywhere, spontaneously making themselves felt whenever their free outlet is not barred by stronger forces. It is a simple inference from known facts that increase of population and scarcity of food must have made themselves felt in Scandinavia both before and after the Viking period; but only at that one period, during that quite definite space of time, did these conditions cause such catastrophic outbreaks. If the Viking expeditions to Western Europe and the subsequent emigration begin so suddenly and last only for a definite period, the cause must be sought outside the influence of the permanent relation between increase of population and conditions of subsistence in the Scandinavian countries. A comparison with the emigrations in the Baltic littoral may serve to throw light on this question. A considerable emigration from Gotland to the eastern coasts of the Baltic and to Russia, can be proved to have taken place about A. D. 500. From the 7th century upwards we are able to follow a considerable Swedish invasion of Finland, evidently effected by conquest and immigration. At Grobin and Apuole in Courland

Europe about 800 A.

—

start with the

—

—

excavations have brought to light the remains of important Swedish settle-

ments dating from the period between 600 and 800 A.

D.,

the foundation of the great Swedish dominion in Russia.'

and then follows This

is,

all of

it,

^ Birger Nerman: Die Verbindungen zwischen Skandinavien und dem Ostbalticum in der jiingeren Eisenzeit. Kungl. Vitterhets, Hislorie oeh Antikvitets Akademiens Handlingar, 40: 1. Stockholm. By the same author: Fynden fran Grobin. Statens Hist. Museum,

—

Utstallning Katalog, No.

4.

Stockholm 1930.

Chapter

II

11

the continued outcome of a constant desire for emigration and colonisation. similar interpretation does, indeed, apply to the early Danish immigration

A

But a movement of that kind does not necessarily mean piracy on it should be kept in mind that the Viking expeditions to Western Europe begin as piratical raids and do not till later on develop into emigration and colonisation. The start of the Viking expeditions is owing to two factors, viz. a newawakened energy in the North and a favourable conjuncture, the nations of Western Europe being at that precise point of time little capable of defending themselves. The latter fact is perhaps the more important in this connection, but only on the supposition of an accidental attack having discloised the weakness. The occurrence of such an attack precisely at the close of the 8th century may be connected with the development of ship-building and navigation in Scandinavia, opening up ais they did fresh possibilities of travel across the open sea. The historical situation of Western Europe, too, was largely on the side of the Vikings. Scotland was as yet an entirely barbarous co'uitry, still on the border-line between prehistoric and historical conditions, and without any The country was being subjected from the southpolitical unity whatever. east to the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Bernicia, from the south-west to BritishCeltic Strathclyde, while the sea-passage from the west brought to the country From the north came, about 800, Norse Irish missionaries and Irish Scots. western coast. Such a country was not in a islands and the settlers to the condition to offer united resistance to the invasion of the Viking period. The Vikings became one of the various elements destined to make up the Scottish into Fritsia.

a great scale, and

nation of historical times.

The conditions

of Ireland

were

different, but Ireland

had no more than Celtic by

Scotland a state powerful enough to offer effective resistance.

by language, the country had been christianised in the 4th in Western Christendom, having a national church organisation of its own. Ireland had never been a part of the Roman Empire, and in the Viking period it still preserved ancient social conditions of an entirely prehistoric type. The people was divided into a great number of tribes headed by chieftains who were united imder petty kings. Nominally all Ireland had a national over-king, the king of Tara, whose position, however, was only a nominal dignity without real power. The fantastic Irish annals before the Viking time are filled with reports of internal warfare, and the Vikings supervened as a fresh factor in the perpetual inter-tribal wars. Here, no more than in Scotland, was there a

nationality and

century by influences from Gaul, but held a peculiar place

united power able to resist the invader. In England the social conditions

than in Scotland and Ireland.

were of course far more consolidated The Anglo-Saxon community was entirely

C h

12

a

pt

II

e r

Teutonic in character, but features of the old Roman legal organisation had also been preserved, and the church had given additional support to Roman

law as well as in the community generally. Nominally the country was divided into seven kingdoms, the Heptarchy; but in fact the number of kingdoms varied, the different dynasties having during centuries traditions

in

-^

;

worked with varying success

for the greatest possible extension of their sway.

Precisely on the verge of the Viking invasion

it

looked as

if

the unification

England were about to be successfully carried through. It was Offa of Mercia who during his long reign, from 757 to 796, had really subjected the whole of Anglo-Saxon England to his rule, directly or indirectly. But his death was the signal of a fresh break-up, of renewed struggles between competing royal houses, and in part even of internal rivalries within these dynasties. The country, at the beginninig of the 9th century, was in a state of fatal weakness. of

On

had built up and consolidated the Western Europe since the down-fall The Frankish kingdom stretched from Holstein to of the Roman Empire. After the coronation in Rome Charlemagne was even in Italy and Spain. the Continent Charles the Great

largest and most powerful state seen in

name

the heir of the Cesars able to approach on a footing of equality the

rulers of Byzantium and the Caliphate, the only contemporaries that could

match him in power. Here, then, was a well-organised and energetically governed kingdom capable of defending itself, and actually doing so. The first Viking attack on France is recorded in 799, when heathen pirates landed in Aquitaine and did much harm, but were defeated too. As early as March next year Charles the Great himself came to the Channel coast and organised its coastal defences, which must have served their purpose, no piratical expeditions being mentioned for some time. We leave out here the Emperor's war with Godfred, King of the Danes, about 810, to which we shall revert later. Apart from that, France was spared Viking raids during the rest of Charlemagne's reign and for no less than 20 years after; but then began a time of hostile visitations so much the fiercer and carried out on a dreadful scale, while at the same time France was divided against itself by endless contests between rival claimants to the throne.

As

a rule, practically without exception, internal

As

door for the Vikings. ised resistance. to

a certain

When

weakness opened the

often as not they failed where they met with organ-

they tried their luck in Spain they did indeed succsed

extent during the first surprise;

but the Moors had a well

organised system of coastal defence, and the Vikings did not gain any great successes in their land.

The general course antly set forth as

it

is

of the Viking expeditions in Stesnstrup's

work,

'N

is

sufficiently

ormannerne

(i.

known, e.

:

brilli-

the North-

Chapter

II

13

Their history begins before 800 with scattered and sudden plunderings, viz. the plunidiering of Lindisfame in 793, and the year after an unsuccessful attack on the monastery of Wearmouth in Sunderland. After In 795 Rechru, off this defeat the operations are transferred to the west. Ireland, and the coast of Wales are the objects of their attacks; in 797 the north-east of Ulster, and Kintyre in Scotland; in 798 St. Patrick's island off Man; in 802 and 806 lona, and in 807 Inis Murray in Ireland. In 799 there With a view to getting a correct idea is a similar rapid descent on Aquitaine.

men).

to the Viking expeditions, it must be kept in mind round the Irish Sea were the onrss chiefly infested. A landing in the South of France, and likewise the first visits to the mouth of the Loire, must assuredly have followed the old sea route from Ireland already mentioned. At this time there are as yet no records of corresponding calamities on the coasts of the British Channel, in Frisia, in Southern England, or on the Seine. On the other hand, the Norse began about 8O0 to occupy land on the islands north and west of Scotland, and from this starting-point they were of course boimd to find their way farther out, to Ireland, to Wales, and to France. These first attacks have in no respect the character of systematic raiding expeditions. A few scattered cases are recorded, distributed over a space of fifteen years. The holinesis of the places, and the fame of the saints that suffered St. Patrick, St. Columba, St. Dachona, and others caused the calamity to reecho throughout Western Christendom, but the real damage done was not so very serious. In this connection we ought rather to call to mind an old Scandinavian habit justifying, to a certain degree, seafarers provisioning themselves with meat on long voyages by so-called >strand-hogg (the word litterally meaning: securing butcher's meat by killing other people's cattle on the shore). The first Norsemen sailing along the coasts of Scotland and Ireland mio-t certainly oftein helped themselves in

of this

introduction

that the coasts

—

—

this

way according

to the established practice of their

home

land.

In con-

nection with the devastation of Lindisfame (793) it is expressly mentioned that the cattle were killed and carried off. But on foreign shores it was of

course too tempting to exceed the limit of requisite provisioning by including the loot easily taken from a monastery or a church. These first vikings round the Irish Sea are evidently no profesisional pirates, but rather sea-farers exploring foreign coasts as fore-runners of a subsequent immigration. We see Norwegians beginning by exploring in the same way the possibilities of

Iceland and Greenland with a view to making the necessary preparations for the settlement of the countries.

This is also the character of the Vinland voyages, which however did not lead to a lasting result. This is the way in

which

we

ought to look upon the

for the Norse colonisation in

first

Viking expeditions,

Western Great Britain and

viz.

a preparation

in Ireland.

That the

C

14 internal conditions of Ireland

a greater scale,

is

h a p te r II

were of a kind

to suggest

warlike attempts; on

a different matter altogether; the first loot tempted the

Vikings on to fresh plunderings in a country troubled by everlasting internal warfare, and the invasions so begun developed naturally into an organised war

Western England being simultaneThe aim of the first Viking expeditions

of conquest, large tracts of the littoral of

ously penetrated by Norse settlers. to the British Isles

was evidently

to try to find

new land

for Norse emigrants

already arrived in the Scotch archipelago.

Viking history took a quite different course on the Continent and in AngloThe North, and more particularly Denmark, had ancient trade-connections with the Channel coast; Frisia and Flanders lay open to

Saxon England.

peaceful immigration.

There are no definite records of warlike trouble

the beginning of the century in these countries."

The

first

Viking

at

visits to

Aquitaine and on the Loire were assuredly brought about along the route from Ireland, not from the Channel.

The Viking expeditions

to

France were

expedition, in 200 ships, to Frisia in 810.

was regular war begun by King Godfred

in reality

opened by the Danish

This was no Viking raid proper; in

Denmark

it

against Charles the

Great, entailing however, as a matter of course, extended plunderings in Frisia. When peace had been restored, the Emperor took care to reestablish a strong system of coastal defence, which was also kept up by his successor.

A

was energetically and successfully But in 834, when the whole armament of the empire was concentrated for the waging of internal war between Lewis the Pious and his soms, Frisia was attacked by a Danish fleet, and Dorestad was sacked. The visit was repeated in 836, and once more in 837, just as the Emperor was about to march his army to Italy. One is tempted to believe that the Vikings may have been invited by the Emperor's enemies during the civil war within the kingdom of the Franks. The war of 810 was still fresh in people's memory, and the experience gained then might well have inspired the idea of calling in Danish mercenaries. The Vikings were at any rate well informed about the favourable moment, with civil war raging and the fleet of 13 ships trying its luck in 820,

resisted, first in Flanders, then

land consequently

on the Seine.

which continued without intermission on record that on several occasions the Northmen were hired to serve as auxiliaries in internal French contests. The expeditions to Western Francia, then, had from the beginning the in a state of weaknessi,

during the rest of the 9th century.

It is

" A notice in Einhard's Vita Caroli, chapter 17, about the plundering of the islands off the coast of Frisia, has no definite statement concerning date and locality. Stenstrup: Nor-

mannerne

—

II, p. 12. This also applies to the famous passage in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, about the three ships filled with Northmen from Hseredaland landing in England at the time of King Beohtric.

C h

a

pt

e r

11

15

character of veritable armies conducted by military chiefs, and their sole Their success object was plundering, the acquisition of loot and money.

number; the fights discipline and cohesion.

attracted fresh recruits, so that the armies increased in

themselves yielded experience that strengthened their

The Northmen were firmly established in the country, as a real military In the eight-thirties Frisia was the chief sufferer; from about 840 France was the main scene of action, only in part Germany; and from the middle of the 9th century onwards the attacks on England began in earnest. During all this time large fleets were on the sea year after year; the crews

power.

established themselves ashore in winter quarters, as a standing menace.

It

and on rivermouths that the Vikings fixed their camps. This they did for the first time on the isle of Thanet off Kent in 850, win-

was

chiefly in islands

tering in the Seine for the first time in 851.

In the winter quarters the

Vikings were so to say at home in foreign countries; from them issued real conquests, followed by the settlement of new land on a great scale. In the course of the 9th century a number of new Viking states were

founded in Western Europe, by Norsemen and Danes, vis. the earldom of the Orkneys comprising also the North of Scotland, as well as the Hebrides, the kingdoms of Man and Dublin, Northumbria with York as its capital. East Anglia, and the Five Boroughs in England, the Danish dominion of Frisia, and finally, at the beginning of the 10th century, the duchy of Normandy. But after 900 the movement ebbs out. Viking activity does not indeed completely cease, but it sinks into insignificance. Large tracts of land had been conquered, territories that were capable of receiving peaceful immigration;

and the North was consolidated to a degree unknown before, Norway by Harald Fairhair, Denmark by Gorm the Old and Harald Bluetooth. This may have contributed towards restraining the old habit of piracy. We have from the 9th century several cases of the emperor holding menacing remonstrances with the Danish king in order to have the nuisance stopped, and receiving assurances that offenders had been executed or were going to be. We are in possession of a very curious description of an Arab embassy sent to the North on a similar errand, when the Vikings had plundered in Spain. Also, Harald Fairhair entered into amicable relations with the king of England, and his son Hakon (the Good ) was brought up at the court of Athelstan. England, mioreover, had been strenigthened under the Wessex dynasty, and France got its coastal defence in Normandy. It was only in Scotland and Ireland, that the Orkney earls could continue their efforts to extend their sway. Franc© and England were at rest, rid of the Vikings during the greater part of the 10th century.

—

—

But the Baltic still remained a den of robbers, and under a new weak English government, under ^thelred (978 1016), the Vikings again turned

—

C

16

westwards

full of fierce

h a p

energy.

It

t

e r

II

was the time

of Olav Tryggvason, of Olav

the Saint; and finally of the Danish kings Svein and Cnut,

who

carried

hardly an accident that we have to record, at about the same time, the last and most important Norse advance in Ireland, stopped by the Irish victory at Clontarf. Both these attacks were out the conquest of

England.

all

It

is

no longer Viking raids proper, Ihey were organised wars with conqueist as their object, and this last peripd of the Viking time was only a short episode. The Norse in Ireland were stopped by the defeat in 1014, and England soon reverted peacefully to the dominion of its own royal family. We must now make some brief and preliminary remarks about a problem that has often been discussed, viz. about the nationality of the Vikings, the question of what particular Scandinavian nations were represented among the Vikings appearing in the different parts of Europe.'' The contemporary sources of Western Europe contain but little reliable information, because the Christian authors concerned took no great ethnographical interest in the native lands of the Vikings, in the races and kingdoms of the North. The current designations in France and in England were apt to mislead rather In England all kinds of Vikings were called Danes (Dani) than inform. indiscriminately; the original signification of the word is of course Danish, but its more comprehensive sense in English influenced even the North, Norse authors adopting the term < Danish tongue as a designation of Scandinavian speech as a whole. In France 'Normans (normanni) was used in the same way, including all kinds of Vikings. The word, however, is not French, but Scandinavian, and we know that as early as the ninth century, it had in Norwegian the definite natio'nal colouring that it has kept afterwards. The classical example is to be found in Alfred's writings from about 880 890, when the Norwegian Ottar is his source on this matter. Ottar speaks about the whole country, the later Norway, from Vestfold to Finnmark, as being
—

bjorn Hornklove, in his song about Harald, calls Harald Fairhair

drottin

Another, Tjodolv of Hvin, in Ynglingatal, speaks about the growth of the Yngling family <;i Noregi.:, i. e. in Norway. There can be no Nor5m,ann.a

.

doubt about the Norwegians in these sources designating their own people as «Normans;>. This also applies to an Irish source from 825, recording that Irish hermits had to leave the Faroes about 800 «causa latronum Normannorum>, meaning of course robbers from Norway and nothing else.* The question

names Normans and Danes

is discussed thoroughly by Gustav Storm: Kritiske bidrat; * til vikingetidens historie, Kristiania 1878, pp. 15 f. The French use of the term normans may possibly be accounted for by France first becoming acquainted with Norwegian vikings, viz. the Vikings from Ireland, visiting Aquitaine and the mouth of the Loire. ^

Steenstrup:

of

the national

Norniannerne,

I,

pp. 49

f.

and

II,

pp. 14

f.

—

C

h a

pt

e r

II

17

between the respective Danish and Norwegian Vikings in Western Europe cannot be based on such designations as Danes and Normans. It was only linguistic usage in England and in France that gave to either name its comIt

fields

is,

then, immediately clear that a distinction

of operation of

prehensive meaning of Scandinavians indiscriminately. And a fuller exposition has to be based on a consideration of historical facts. We have already glanced at the old and close relations of Denmark with Frisia and the Rhine

King Gotfred's sea-expedition from Denmark in 810 went to these In lands, and so did later Danish viking expeditions between 834 and 837. Danes proper had practiit, these waters, as on the Rhine and the Elbe, the On the islands and coasts of Scotland the same cally, all to themselves.

country.

applies to the Norwegians. In this case we have, indeed, much scantier information from, the 9th century; but the facts are sufficiently ascertained by the later connection of Norway with Scotland and the Scottish islands.

In Ireland the matter

is

clearer than elsewhere owing to the Irish sources

between Norwegian and Danish vikings. The homeland of the Vikings was Hiruath (Hirota), which, it has been thought, may be a transcription of Hordaland. The name, in this case, would date from a time when Hordaland was the central political power of western Norway.'' Later on the current Irish name for Norway was Lochlann, and the Norwegians were called Lochlannac. The origin of these names is quite uncertain. Danes are at the same time called Danair. On several occasions, too, Norwegians and Danes are distinguished as respecLooking at the matter from a historical tively white and black strangers. point of view, we find, moreover, that the Viking inroads into Ireland came chiefly from the north, from the Scottish Isles. It becomes clear, then, that the Viking deeds in Ireland are mainly done by Norwegians, while Danish fleets interfered more casually, starting from the continent or from England. This is confirmed by a very considerable number of specimens of Irish metal-work deposited in contemporary graves in Norway from as early as the beginning af the 9th century and onwards." distin,guishing, as a general rule,

oldest Irish designation of the

'

Scandinavian scholars on the whole agree so far, on the question of the Not so as soon as we turn to France and England. In his thoroughgoing and strictly critical treatment of the problem, Steenstrup' has arrived at the conclusion that the Normans on different parts played by the different nations.

the Continent as well as the

Danes

in

England were

them from Den-

all of

Norges Historie, Kristiania 1910, I, 2. .\lexander Busjge: Tidsrummet ca. 800—1030. " Jahs. Boe: An Ornamented Celtic Bronze Object, found in a Norwegian Grave. Bergens Museums Arbok 1924—2.'), hist. ant. rekke No. 4, p. 30. .Johannes C. H. R. °

p. 46.

'

Steenstrup: Normannerne 2

—

Viking Antiquities

I,

Kjobenhavn

1876, pp. 49

ff.,

and

ib.

II,

Kjobenhavn

1878, p. 14.

C

18

h a p

t

e r

1

mark. This conclusion has been adopted and further substantiated by Walther Vogel in his eminent work on the Normans and the Prankish empire," while Norwegian historians, first and foremost Gustav Storm, has maintained that on this scene too we must reckon with not a little participation from Norway.

We

have no means, of course, of striking a statistical balance, and so are reduced to weighing the facts in point more or less by the subjective standaird of our own judgement. Considering the facts from this point of view we can have no doubt that the great Viking army devastating Frisia and France about 830 840, to turn later on to the great conquest of England, had originally issued from Denmark and was led by Danish chieftains. We find that the Frankish kings held King Horik of Denmark responsible for the conduct of the Vikings, and that the latter protests that he had had the culprits executed. A German ambassador, Count Kobbo, witnessed, in Denmark, Regner exhibiting, on his return from the expedition to Paris in 845, a fragment of a column taken from the church of St. Germain and the lock of one of the city-

—

gates of Paris.

But the large Viking army that was on the move continuously through a generation, was recruited from other quarteiis as well. Nor were the Danes the first Vikings to visit the coasts of France proper. An unsuccessful attempt at landing in Aquitaine in 799 is evidently connected with the first attacks on England and Ireland (Lindisfarne in 793, Ireland and Wales in 795, Man in 798,&c.), whereas we hear nothing of any corresponding trouble in Flanders and Frisia at that time. In the years from 814 to 820 France was left entirely at peace by the Danes, while during the same period descents were made almost every year on Noirmoutier and Bouin at the mouth of the Loire, and on the island of Re off La Rochelle. These attacks are, on very good ground, supposed to be made by Vikings from Ireland,'' which country was mainly visited by Vikings from Norway. It follows that Norwegian Vikings too must have taken part in the first attacks on the coast of France. And this We is confirmed by Carlovingian coins and antiquities found in Norway. know of some few Carlovingian coins found in Norway, most of them struck during the reigns of Charles the Great and Lewis the Pious, and likewise of some Anglo-Saxon coinis from the same time.^" We have also found a number of gold and silver ornaments in Norway that are eminent samples of Carlovingian jewelry. In view of such evidence there can be no doubt that NoTwegians took part in the early Viking- expeditions to France, and undoubtedly along the western routes with winter quarters in Ireland ajs an inter-

—

" Walther Vogel: Die Normannen und das Frankische Reich bis zur Griindung der " Normandie (799—911), Heidelberg 1906, pp. 20 ff. Walther Vogel: Die Normannen " A. W. Brogger: Angelsaksiske niynter und das Frankische Reich, pp. 62 and 64. fra VIII og IX arhundrede Norden, Nors^k Historisk Tidsskrift R. 5, vol 1, Oslo. i

C h

a

p

t

e r

II

19

mediate starting-point. The sea-route from Ireland to the Loire was old and well-known from as early as the beginning av the 7th century." The Anglo-Saxon coins found in Norway from the time before and about A. D. 800 lead to the same conclusion as regards England. It may also be mentioned that some specimens of Anglo-Saxon metal-work have been found Norwegian graves from the beginning of the Viking period, though they

m

are not,

it

is

true, as

may

numerous

as Irish antiquities of the

also be mentioned

some

same

time.

Western Norway,

In this

Arab must be connected with the Viking expediAccording to trustworthy Irish tions to Spain and Africa in 844 and 860.^sources, two chieftains from Orkney, undoubtedly Norse, took part in the connection

finds in

of

coins from Spain and Tunis, which

latter of these expeditions.

There are many other features besides these, to show that we are not separate routes for each of the Scandinavian nations, in the Viking expeditions. Westfaldingi (i. e. people from Vestfold in Norway) harried Nantes in 843. Norwegian names appear continually in the history of England. In the circle that surrounded King Alfred we meet the names of two Norwegians, viz. Ottar and Ulfstein. We find Egill Skallagrimsson and his brother at the court of ^thelstan; Olav Trygg\fason and Olav Haraldsison took part in the last great wars about England. At the battle of Clontarf the Norse had got reinforcements, not only from Man and all the Norse settlements in Scotland, but from Flanders and France as well. The great Viking armies certainly acquired in course of time'' rather a miscellaneous composition, comprising among other elements also contributions from the Norse settlements already existing in Western Europe. entitled to trace out definite

St. Coluniban was able to embark at Nantes for Ireland, in a ship that had Nantes laden with Irish goods. In 677 it is mentioned that an Irish trading-ship came to Noimioutier laden with goods, such as shoes and articles of dress. See Walther Vogel: Zur nord- und westeuropaischen Seeschiflahrt im friihen Mittelalter. Hansische Gesehichtsblatter, XIII, 1907, p. 161. H. Zimmer. Aut weleheni Wege kamen die Goidelen voni Kontinent nach Irland. Abhandlungen der K. preussisehen Akadeniie d. Wissenschaften, '^

come

In 610

to

—

The over-«ea trade between France and Ireland is men' Shetelig: Arabiske mynter pa Vestlandet, Oldtiden, " We cannot accept an argument adduced by Walther III, Stavanger 1913, p. 29. Vogel, 1. c, p. 24, where he says that Norway niu.st have been too spar.sely populated to take any appreciable part in the great occupation of England and Normandy (i. e. contemporane1912.

Phil.-hist.

Classe, S. 54

tioned here from about

.570.

ously with such a great stream of emigrants pouring out of the country to Scotland, Ireland, the Faroes, Iceland, and Greenland).

movement had been confined

to

This reasoning might have held good,

one generation.

As a matter

of fact

it

if

the whole

extends over two

centuries, from the first Viking raids about SOO to the settlement of Greenland a little before 1000 A. D. The new chances of livelihood at home and of emigration were in

themselves bound

to

give an impetus to the growth of the population, to whieh were added

fresh contributions from

new

generations in the colonies.

C h a p

20

The

first

confusing.

impression

left

t

e r

II

by detailed accounts of Viking history

The separate episodes may be

heart-stirring,

as

when

is

very

eye-wit-

nesses describe their shocking experiences, the surprise of a peaceful town, dreadful plunderings, the levy of territorial troops, fights ending in victory or in flight. It is always the same story, repeated to monotony, a stream of dis-

our purpose in the following to include be to collect the more significant features, to trace as best we may the historical line marking the course of the Viking movement in the 9th century. We shall treat separately each of the territories of Western Europe that became the scenes on which Viking history was enacted, starting in Scotland, the country in which Norwegian settlements were first established and acquired permanent forms. connected incidents.

all

the details

It

will not serve

known: our attempt

will

CHAPTER

III.

THE ORKNEY EARLS AND THE HEBRIDES. Norwegians, in the Saga times and in the Middle Ages, did not regard the islands north of Scotland as a foreign country; ihey viewed these islands as their own territory, standing, it is true, in a varying and comparatively loose

Norway, but entirely Norwegian in population, in The provinces in Northern Scotland were conquered land, in which the Norwegians were mingled with a native people as was also the case in the Hebrides and in the Isle of Man, while the Orkneys and Shetland had preserved no trace of a similar linguistic and racial dualism. This is most clearly proved by the place-names of Orkney and Shetland being, practically all of them, Norse, only an insignificant number being possibly of Celtic origin, and even these not of proved ante-Norwegian age.' There are on these Islands a great number of prehistoric monuments dating back to a time long before the Norwegian occupation, the peculiar stone buildings called cPicts' houses?, graves and standing-stones of the Bronze Age, and, of equal interest, the remarkable tower-like castles, brochs so-called; but all these monuments are in historical times mentioned by Norwegian names and designations, and tradition affords no vestiges of the Norwegians ever meeting with the people that had once set up the earlier monuments. These facts can only be interpreted by our inferring that the islands were at mo'St only very thinly peopled when the Norwegians made their first settlements. There were probably a few Irish monks and hermits, possibly scattered Celtic elements, but no densely settled districts, not a solid local community into which the Norse forced their way. The islands must have been depopulated compared with the earlier time, the time of the brochs> and other monuments. But as to when or how this depopulation took place, no evidence hais been available so far. We may only infer that the Norwerelation to the king of

language, and in history.

gians were able to take possession of the land without any serious contest

with an earlier population.

No

reliable record

is

left

of

' A. W. Brogger: Ancient Emigrants. Oxford 1929, p. 59.

the earliest Norwegian

A

immigration into

History of the Norw. Settlements of Scotland.

Chapter

22

111

Orkney and Shetland. The Scottish sources are absolutely silent, and Norse sagas contain only vague reports that evidently do not express a genuine tradition handed down from the time. The best-known account is to be found in Snorre Slurlason's kings' sagas, where it is related that many chieftains

Norway on account of Harald Fairhair's dominion, settling in the islands West and issuing from there to plunder in Norway in summer. This called forth Harald's expedition to the west; most of the Vikings were killed; Shetland, Orkney, and SuSrey (the Hebrides) were subjected to the the last object of the expedition was found king, while the Isle of Man Thereupon to be deserted, all its Vikings having taken refuge in Scotland. the earldom of Orkney was established as a fief in the allegiance of the king left

in the

—

—

Snorre does not expressly state that these events caused the settled by Norwegians, but this must evidently have been his opinion, as may be inferred from the account given in the saga immediately after the description of the battle of Hafrsfjord (The saga of Harald Fairhair, Chapter XX) It was a great number of people that fled from Harald, for it was then that large uninhabited lands were settled, among them Shetland, Orkney, the Hebrides. The same theory is advanced in the Orkneyinga saga. It is said that in the days of Harald Fairhair the Orkneys were settled; but before that time these islands were the haun't of Vikings (sva er sagt at a dogum Haraldz hin Harfagra bygdtuz Orknieyar, en a?^r var t'ar vikingaboli). of Norway.

islands to

be

:

The Latin

Historia Norwegiae, written by a Norse ecclesiastic about 1200,

According to this version, some Vikings belonging to the descendants of Ragnvald the Strong sailed in a large fleet across the Sulend Sea in the days of Harald Fairhair; they took from these peoples their old homes, devastated the islands, and laid them imder their sway. From there issued the further subjection of Northumbria, Caithness, Dublin, &c. The additional information given here is the name of a progenitor of the rulers of Orkney, while the date of the emigration is referred, by this author too, to the time of Harald Fairhair. It is a feature common to the whole Icelandic literature that it explains the emigration from Norway ais due to Harald Fairhair's conquest of the country, and this historical legend has even stamped the ideas of modem historians down to recent times. It is, however, easily recognised as a learned construction on the part of saga-writers in the 12th and 13th centuries, desiring to explain the motives of this stupendous emigration of Vikings, a phenomenon so entirely unfamiliar to their own time. They knew about the conflict between king and aristocracy in the Norway of their own day; they also knew that some of the original settlers in Iceland had in fact been driven out of Norway during a conflict with Harald Fairhair. So chronology

gives another version.

C h and events were logical structure.

apt er III

23

each other in such a way as to make up a striking But the whole theory breaks down as soon as we examine

fitted into

the few reliable facts accessible to us.

Norwegian grave-finds from the Orkneys and the Hebrides show beyond as will be shown in a doubt that Norweigians were settled there about 800 battle whereas the of Hafrsf jord took place nearly a a subsequent chapter century later. Grave-finds and place-names likewise testify to the fact that

—

—

we have here

,

to do, not with the occasional visits of roving Vikings, as sugge-

by the sagas, but with resident farmers occupying the land. A. W. Brogger Shetland and Orkney received right in strongly emphasising this point. is settlements the Viking period, and the colonisation during the earliest Norse of these islands has no connection with the history of Harald Fairhair. To a large extent even the emigration to Iceland took place before the battle of Hafrsf jord and the unification of Norway under one king. When, for instance, Aud the Deep-mLnded left Scotland shortly before 880, she went to brothers and relatives who were already settled in Iceland. We must here insert som© remarks about the chronology of Harald FairIt hair's reign. We have, of course, no contemporary records in Norway. was not till the 12th century that Norwegians and Icelanders began to write history, basing their work on oral traditions, which have, certainly, in many cases preserved correct information. Adam of Bremen's saying (about 1070 A. D.) about the Danish king Svein Estridsson, viz. that he preserved the whole history of the Barbarians in his memory as in a written book may be sted

Several saga^w^iters, besides, tell us about their sources, and record the names of informants that were considered The reliable, and support their statements by quoting contemporary skalds. Avradskoll, Torgeir earliest source of oral history mentioned in this way is applied to Norwegian tradition too.

living about 1000 A. D., quoted

standing

by

Ame

Frode (about 1130).

A

source of this

— transmitted by a chain of reliable links — must doubtlessly be con-

names of the kings and the most important But even the best of oral traditions possessed no means of preserving a fixed chronology of the pagan period. The chronology of those times was established much later, by the Icelandic scholars of the sidered trustworthy as regards the

historical events related.

12th century.

The foundation was learned

man educated

laid

by the work of Saemund Frode (1056

in Paris, writing

— 1133),

a

in Latin a history of the kings of

Norway from Harald Fairhair to the death of Magnus the Good (in 1047). The work is lost, but from later extracts we see that Saemund worked up a definite chronological sequence of kings, becoming on that subject the main source of later Norwegian and Icelandic historians, though these historians also sought for some supplementary information in English chronicles and

Chapter

24

Adam

111

Bremen. One of the most important points is the dating of the battle of Hafrsfjord, unanimously stated by the Icelandic authors to have taken place A. D. 872. This date is in all proibability based on a combination of the battle with the first settlement of Iceland, the date of which was known to the Icelanders independently of any reference to Norwegian history. The settlement of their island began immediately after 870, and looking upon the emigration from Norway as being causied by Harald Fairworks

in the

of

of

hair's conquest, they thus O'btaLned obvious mate'rial for their dating of the

battle

Hafrsfjord.

of

Recent historical researches have proved that

this

dating cannot be correct, that the battle must have been fought nearly thirty

years

later.'-

These results are

of great importance or, indeed, essential to

our conception of earlier Norse history in the Orkneys. In the tradition of the Kings' Sagas, the history of the islandis begins, as

we have

seen, by Harald Fairhair's expedition undertaken for the purpose

of crushing the Vikings that ravaged the coasts of sion, according to the sagas, the

remember to Earl

Norway: for on

that occa-

king founded the earldom of Orkney.

how

the well-known story of

We

the king granted Orkney and Shetland

Ragnvald of More, as a fine for his son Ivar who had been killed and how Ragnvald transferred the position

battle during the expedition, his brother Sigurd

who became

in this

way

in to

the first earl-ruler of the islands.

to another tradition Ivar was killed in the battle of Hafrsfjord. King Harald himself, the Flatey-book states that he appropriated the land as far west as any later Norwegian king ever held sway. The last piece of information is open to suspicion not, by the way, adopted by Snorre as giving the impression of being written to support Norwegian claims of a much later period, and does not strengthen our confidence in the report of the Western expedition generally. It is stamped through and through with and coloured by the the character of the time when the saga was written contemporary Norwegian claim for supremacy. The only ascertainable fact is that Halvdan Halegg, Harald's son, was killed in the attempt to conquer the Orkneys; and after him Olav the Saint was the first to lay claims to the subjection of the islands under Norway; this subjection was only carried out by Magnus Barefoot on his two expeditions about 1100 A. D.. Conciluding from the character of the sources, we feel inclined to doubt that the story about Harald's expedition contains any nucleus of historical truth whatever. This expedition is not mentioned at all in foreign sources. Snarre quotes, in documentation of his story, a stanza of a contemporary poem, the Glymdrapa by Torbjom Hornklove; we find there the expression that the whole army of Scots fled before the strong and courageous one, viz. King

According

As

for

—

—

—

'

Halvdan Koth:

Inhogg og utsyn

1

norsk historie.

Kristiania 1921, p. 34.

Chapter

111

Harald, before he gained the victory ashore.

had fought on Scottish

soil,

25

The inference

is

that Harald

an interpretation that entirely agrees with the

technique of skaldic poetry, representing the victorious career of the hero in short, abruptly changing images from every land he had visited. In this connection, however,

we venture

to recall another stanza

due

to the

same

skald,

(Hrafnsmal), containing a description of the battle of Hafrsf jord. It says in this poem that the enemy's ships meeting King Harald were filled with warriors and white shields, western spears, and Welsh swords The word < vestroenna: signifies (;:vigra vestroenna ok valskra sver5a;>). viz.

in Haraldskv8e6i

quite definitely

what

is

of Scottish or Irish provenance, just as <:valskra>

means French. To judge from the phrasing

of the poetry of the time, it seems words used here should have been chosen simply to signify good weapons generally. It is much more probable that we have to do with a poetical form chosen to show where the warriors coming to join battle, hailed from; and if this holds good, it shows that a considerable part of Harald's antagonists at Hafrsf jord had been called in from Scotland, Ireland, and France. These men must have been Norsemen already settled in the Scottish Isles and in Ireland, or they must have visited the coasts of France. The question then arises whether the army of Scots (all herr Scota ) of Glymdrapa, may not also have been a poetic image for the western contingents joining in the battle of Hafrsfjord. In that case the only contemporary allusion to Harald Fairhair's expedition to the western seas, would have to be given up. The hypothesis set forth here is, may be, somewhat bold, and is only mentioned as a possible solution. It is at any rate sure that the expedition Harald may have made to the West, had no consequences whatever for the relations between the islands and Norway. It is also rather improbable that the earldom of Orkney should have been founded by the king at that time. All we know about the earls, gives us the impression that they were absolutely independent from the very first. It is likewise sure that the Orkney earls belonged to the same family as Earl Ragnvald of More. As likely as not we also have to do with a reminiscence of this family when Historia Norvegiae states that it was Vikings belonging to the family of Ragnvald the Strong Also the first Norwegian that first possessed themselves of the Orkneys.' chieftain known to us by name in Orkney is Ragnvald, mentioned in an Irish source about the middle of the 9th centurv.^ little likely that the

'

ad

Quidam

pirate prosapia robustissinii principis Rogwaldi

historian! antiquiorem reruni

— —

P.

.\.

Munch: Symbolae ' Fragment of Socieiy">. Here

Norvegicarum, Christiania 1850, p. 6. an Irish annal edited by O'Donovan for ;The Irish .Archaeological and Celtic borrowed from Steenstrup: Normannerne I, p. 92.

C h a p

26 It is

t

e r

II

stated in this source, immediately after the Danish conquest of

— 866),

that not long before that time there

were

York

kinds of wars and disturbances in Lochlann, and the cause was that the two younger sons of Albdan, king of Lochlann, drove out of the country his eldest son Raghnall, because they were afraid that he might assume royal power in Lochlann on the death of their father. Raghnall came with his three sons to the Orkneys, (865

all

and Raghnall remained there with his youngest son. But his elder sons went in pride and ambition to the British Isles with a great army gathered from all quarters, to attack the Franks and the Saxons. They thought their father had gone back to Lochlann immediately after their departure. In their pride and ambition they were tempted to row across the Cantabrian sea, i. e. the sea between Erin and Spain, and they inflicted much suffering on Spain by manslaughter and plundering. After that they sailed through the Gaditanian Straits, i. e. the place where the Mediterranean passes into the outer ocean, and they landed in Africa, and there they fought a battle with the Moors, in which many Moors were cut down. But one of the sons, as he was going into battle, said to the other: (-^Brother)), said he, < it is stupid and wrong of us to go about from land to land throughout the world in this way, risking our own lives instead of defending our native land and obeying our father. He is now alone, and he now lives far from his own country, in a land that is not his own. The son we left with him, has been killed, as it was revealed to me thisi had been revealed to him in a dream and another son has been killed in battle. Nay, I should be surprised if our father himself has escaped alive from that battle/). This did indeed prove to be the truth. Then follows the description of the fight with the Moors and the victory Thereupon Lochlanns of the brothers. The chronicle continues as follows went all over the country plundering and burning throughout the land, and they carried away to Erin a large number of Moors, and these are the blue men in Erin, for Moors is the same as black men, and Mauritania the same as blackness ( nigritudo"). It was a miracle if every third man of Lochlann escaped out of the whole number that were killed and that were drowned in the Gaditanian Straits. These blue men, in fact, lived in Erin for a long time.

—

—

-

:

Mauritania

We

lies

opposite the Baleiaric Isles

.

from a good Irish source that a chieftain from Norway, Ragnvald, was established in Orkney from about 860 A. D., when he had been driven away by trouble at home. We may fairly oonsider this a corroboration of the information given in Historia Norwegiae about the family of Ragnvald the Strong taking possession of the Orkneys. I am inclined to believe that it was the family of the Earls of More who gained dominion over the Orkneys as early as that, i. e. a full generation before the time of Harald Fairhair. In that case the earldom was not founded by the king as a fief learn, then,

Chapter HI owning allegiance

to the

kingdom

of

27

Norway; the family

itself

would be

entitled to the dignity of earls/'

The

Earls' saga begins with Sigurd, according to tradition the brother of

He

Earl Ragnvald of More. with Thorstein the Red

fought for the acquisition of Scotland in alliance

of Dublin,

who

is

They subjugated the whole of Caithness and much more of Thorstein was according to the Ulster Murray and Ross. killed by treachery on the part of the Scots, in 875, a date that

of Irish sources.

Scotland,

annals

may

identical with the Oistin or Eystein

—

—

He

also serve to determine, approximiately, the lime of Sigurd's life.

died by an accident after killing the Scottish chieftain Maelbrigda.

Gutorm succeeded

His son

as earl of the Islands, but died immediately after.

It is

next related that Earl Ragnvald of More sent his son Hall ad to be earl of Orkney. He soon after returned to Norway, having been unable to defend

was sncceeded by his brother Einar, surnamed Turf-Einar because he taught the farmers to use peat as fuel. His first exploit was to kill two Danish Vikings, who had settled in the island, vh. There Treefoot and Kalv Skurva. We know Turf-Einar not only from the saga-tradition, but also through lausavisur (or: occasional verses), verses from his own lips. They are five in number, all of them concerned with Turf-Einar's great achievement, the islands from wars and robbery, and

the killing of a son of Harald Fairhair's, in avenging his father Ragnvald. says that the prince

name

Hafceta.

Rollaug.

was

killed in Orkney, but mentions

him only by

He

his sur-

He mentions his brothers. Earl There of More, Rolv, and we have a corroboration of the most important facts in of the death of Earl Ragnvald of More. He was surprised by

Here, then,

the saga report

two of Harald Fairhair's sons Halvdan Halegg and Gudrod Ljome, and burnt in his own house. Thore, one of Raignvalds's sons, came to terms with the king, married his daughter, and succeeded his father as Earl of More, while Halvdan Halegg had to fly the country. He went to Orkney. Turf-Einar had to escape to Scotland, and Halvdan became the king of the islands. But TurfEinar came back that same year, caught Halvdan, and killed him. It was, on the morning after their fight that Halvdan Halegg was found on the north side of the Rinar hill. The earl had an eagle cut into his back with a sword, and * The princely titles of that time in Norway did not signify a definite official positio.i or a definite doniinion, but were simply a word of distinction transmitted by inheritance in certain families. Thus the descendants of Ragnvald would be called inrl wherever they

settled.

In

because the

the

same way Halvdan Halegg established himself as king

title of

king belonged

to his

in

the

islands

family (Flateyjarbok, chapter 183, ed. Christiania

I, p. 223, «en Halfdan geordizst konungr yfir eyjuni ). The .larl Hakon, even when wielding royal authority in Norway, never aspired to any other title than the jnrl inherited

1860,

from his ancestors.

Chapter

28

111

backbone, and the lungs drawn out, so offering him Thereupon Harald Fairhair himself underexpedition to the islands to revenge his son. Terms were at last took an agreed upon, Turf-Einar paying a fine of 60 mark in gold on behalf of the

had the ribs cut

off the

as a sacrifice to Odin for victory.

whole peasant population.

In return

for

this

the farmers gave

up

their

codel;> (or allodial rights) to the earl.

But, all the same, this story does not give us exactly the

as Einar's

own

In these

verses.

it

is

same impression

strongly brought out that the revenge

I have cut a notch in Another remarkable expression in the verse is connected with the throwing stones into a cairn over the body of Halvdan: ' a. hard The killing of Halvdan, then, is the answer tribute I am paying him. to a demand made and with this result. We shall never know whether Harald Fairhair took any share in the killing of Ragnvald and in Halvdan Halegg's crossing to Orkney. The only thing certain is that the latter made an attempt at subjecting the islands and exacting tribute, but an attempt that failed. Turf-Einar reigned as Earl of Orkney for a long time after, and his earldom was transmitted to his descendants during three centuries, while his family

for his father

carried out against the king himself:

is

Harald's shield.»

in

Norway expired with his brother Thore. The story about the Orkney earls, the descendants

to us in a saga,

century."

It

is

:

Jarlasaga

,

of Turf-Einar,

comes

written in Iceland in the beginning of the 13th

a violent and eventful saga, filled with tales of fighting and

bloodshed, contests between brothers, treachery and fratricide. Many of its features, too, remind us that the scene of action is a land not entirely Nor-

wegian

were

at

in character, that

Norsemen from the

when fighting in Scotland Under the earlier earls there Eric to the crown of Norway.

islands,

variance with a people of foreign race.

are no definite traces of any close relations

Blcod-axe came as a fugitive from Norway, arriving first in Orkney, and His giving his daughter Ragnhild in marriage to the earl's son Arnfinn, shows only a personal alliance, and the The earls Amkell and Erlend went with him to his last fight at Stanmoor. story about Earl Hakon of Norway sending men to exact tribute from the islands must also be regarded with unqualified diffidence, and it is equally improbable that Olav Tryggvason should have forceid the Orlcney earl, Sigurd the Stout, to pay homage to him as king of Norway at a time when he himself was on his way home to conquer his kingdom. Olav the Saint, on the other hand, was in a condition to maintain a certain authority over the islands,

proceeding from there to England.

and Harald Hardrade

is

said to have received contingents from the islands

for his expedition against England. But

°

Fredrik Paasche:

it

Norsk Litteraturhistorie

was only during Magnus Barefoot's I,

Kristiania 1924,

p.

364.

C

h a

pt

e r

III

29

expeditions west-over-sea, about 1100, that the islands were subjected to Nor-

way on more permanent and settled conditions. The history of Shetland is far less known, and is, indeed, very rarely touched upon by ancient writers. It may be called an accident that Shetland possesses no written saga like the Orkneys and tlie Faroes; it does not necessarily mean that there was no material worthy of a saga, or that Shetland had not, like the other islands, its chieftains, or some powerful families in leading positions.

We

discern at any rate that Shetland was not conti-

nuously connected with Orkney, but, from early times, rather with Norway. The Gulathing law applied in Shetland, while Orkney, in all probability, had The church of Shetland pertained to Norway, while the its own statute-book. bishops of Orkney were at

first appointed direct from Bremen, later on from York, down to the time of Magnus Bare-foot." The most powerful of the

Orkney earls probably made themselves masters of Shetland too. King Sverre made Shetland directly dependent on Norway, and in the later Middle Ages it was regarded as mainly connected with the Faroes. In the Orkneys all political interests turned in the opposite direction, viz. towards Scotland, the Hebrides, and Ireland; and Ihis orientation put its stamp on the social conditions. The earldom always stood in an attitude of potential hostily to

its

as the case might be.

southern neighbours, ready for conquest or for defence In these islands there

was the

right soil for fostering a

strong aristocracy, the earl himself surrounded by the powerful

goe5ingar

were called in Orkney. The aspiration for southward conquests puts its stamp upon the whole history of the islands. The Northern point of Scotland, the province of Caithness, had been occupied from Orkney at an early date, and then Sutherland that has obviously been named by people from the North, from a Norse point of view. The name Dingwall marks a Norwegian colony as far south as Cromarty on the east coast. But there are no Scottish sources; the knowledge we have is acquired from Norse sagas, which as we know are not absolutely reliable. It is natural enough that the family Turfof the earls should be continually drawn into Scottish connections. Einar's son Torfinn Hausakljuv (died 963) was married to Gerlaug, daughter of the Scottish maormor Dungad, his son Lodve to an Irish princess Edna, and Lodve's son Sigurd the Stout (in his last marriage) to King Malcolm's as they

—

—

—

daughter, Macbeth's sister.

The reigns

and his youngest son Torfinn (died in Sigurd was always at war, and always victorious, by virtue of the raven banner embroidered by his mother. He possessed Caithness and Sutherland; he laid all Western Scotof Sigurd the Stout

1064) were the great time of the Orkney earls.

'

Edv. Bull:

Del Norske Folks Liv og Hislorie,

II, p.

134

Chapter

30

III

land as far south as Fife under his sway; he levied tribute from the Hebrides and the Isle of Man, and from possessions in Ireland. He fought one vic-

Malcolm to accept his alliance and relationship by marriaige. As the ally of Sigtrygg of the Silken Beard, of Dublin, he fought in the battle of Clontarf, where he was killed in 1014. His earl's residence in Orkney is the scene of dramatic episodes in Icelandic sagas. To it came the skald Gimnlaug Ormstunge, and here Flose met the avenger of the burning of Bergtorskval. It was Thorf inn, the youngest of Sigurd's sons, who succeeded in keeping the possessions together. He had for a long time to contend with his brothers, Einar, Vrangmunn, and Bruse, and with Ragnvald, Bruse's ison, finding support in Scotland, while his antagonists tried to get assistance from Olaf the Thorfinn went to Norway, too, and was allied with the Saint in Norway. Ammodling family by marrying one of Finn Ameson's daughters. With him

torious battle after another in Scotland, forcing

Kalf

Ameson

lived his last days,

in exile.

Thus, as

we

see,

connections

between the Islands and Norway had again been established. But Thorfinn's activity was exclusively turned towards Scotland and Ireland. We know the outstanding features of his exploits from the magnificent Thorfinnsdrapa by Arnor Jarlaskald (i. e. Amor the Earls' Skald). Amor mentions Thorfinn's descent from Earl Ragnvald of More and Turf-Einar, and depicts in striking imagery his battles in the islands, in Scotland, in Ireland, and in the land of He was victorious everywhere, bearing rule at the Angles south of Man. last in a powerful state comprising Shetland and Orkney, Northern and Western Scotland, the Isle of Man, and parts of Ireland. In his last years he made a pilgrimage to Rome via Denmark and Germany, and built the first cathedral church of the islands, the Christ-church of Birsa.

We

shall not

follow the history of these islands further.

The

other great territory of Norse settlement within present-day Scotland,

consisted of the islands along the western coast of Scotland, the Hebrides

and the is

Man, comprised in our language in the name Suftreyar; it once more, that these lands too were named from a northern

Isle of

significant,

of view, from Orlcney. History gives us as little information of Norse settlements in the Hebrides as in the northern islands. We possess records of early Viking plunderings about 800, the first time in lona in 795, and in Skye the same year; then aigain in lona (802 and 806). Columba's There are relics were then carried away temporarily to Ireland, for safety. very few later records of Viking attacks on Western Scotland. But from 800 onwards there was a large influx of settlers, as is shown by place-namies, and the antiquities found, and as soon as historical sources begin to flow, we find Norse people established as masters of the islands. But the conditions of life were quite different from those prevailing in

point

Chapter

III

31

Orkney; for the Norse invasioiis into the littoral and islands of Western population already settled there. The Norse, Gaelic Scotland met a Celtic consequently, could nowhere make themselves sole masters of the land, they were crossed with a foreign nationality, and in an increasing ratio as they

—

—

•

proceeded farther south. This is shown even in our days, by the placenames. In Lewis the proportion of Norse to Gaelic place-names is computed to be approximately 4 to 1; in Skye 3 to 2; in Islay 1 to 2; in Kinsale 1 to 4; and in Arran and in the Isle of Man 1 to 8.** It should, however, be kept in mind that Norse names are not easily recognised in these tracts, where the Gaelic language finally prevailed; but the place-names, for all that, reflect to a certain extent the proportion between Norse and Celtic national elements. The immigration, accordingly, cannot have gone on entirely in peaceable forms, so much the more as the dispute was not only about individual settlement, but also implied the rule of Norse chieftains. In Norse tradition we finid, in the Hebrides in the 9th century, a circle of magnates whose names have been preserved because they became the ancestors of prominent Icelandic families. The chieftain Ketil Flatnev, the son of Bjorn Buna in Sogn," was the first Norseman to bear rule in the Hebrides. According to the Landnama, Harald Fairhair sent him over to subject the islands to the king, while other stories, such as the Laxdoela saga, only mentions his being expelled from the islands by Harald Fairhair during Both accounts must be regarded as mistaken his expedition west-over-sea. constructions brought about by the prevalent desire of Icelandic authors to put everything in connection with Harald Fairhair. Ketil Flatnev must have lived in the islands about the middle of the 9th century at the latest, his

daughter Aud the Deep-minded being at that time married to Olav the White, King of Dublin from 850 to 871, and no doubt married over there in the West, not in Norway. Their son, Thorstein the Red, the son of Ketil Flatnev's daughter, was killed in Scotland, 875, after achieving important results as a warrior, so that at that time he must have been at least quite grown up. It was at this time that many people from the islands emigrated to Iceland;

but Ketil Flatnef

is

reported to have said that he was not going to remove to It may, in fact, be questioned whether

a fishermen's haunt in his old age.

he was still alive at the time of the emigration to Iceland. It may at any rate be regarded as certain that he belonged to a generation older than that of Harald Fairhair.

«

R. L.

Brenmer

in the

Saga Book

of the

Viking Club,

III, p. 373.

follow the Eyrbysaja Saga, w-hich ojives a precise account of Ketil's father.

saga confines

itself to

mentioning vaguely that Ketil lived

in

»

In this

we

The Laxdoela-

Raunisdal in Raunisdoelafylki.

32

C h

a p

t

e r

III

Another of Ketil Flalnev's daughters was married to Helge the Thin, son Eyvind Eastman by an Irish princess, Rafarta, daugliter of King Cearbhall of Ossory who was the ally of Olav the White in 859. To the same circle also belonged Trond Mjoksigknde (i. e. the great sailor) and Steinulv the Short, both from Agder, Ulv Skjalge, married to a sister of Helge the Thin and Amund Tree-foot from Rcgaland. But Geirmunn Heljarskinn, a descendant of the legendary kings of Hordaland, was evidently the most prominent personage of them all. Among the original settlers in Iceland may finally be mentioned Ssemund of the Hebrides, settling in the Skaga-fjord, and Thord at Hovda who was likewise married to an Irish princess, and the brother-in-law of Eyvind Eastman. The Icelandic tradition has not preserved much beyond the names, and what else is told about these people deserves very little credit. But the mere names give us all the same an impression of the circle of men who made themselves masters of the Hebrides in the 9th century. They were chieftains that had emigrated from the South and West of Norway, assuredly each of them with his own retinue of people who acquired new abodes under their leadership and in close alliance with the Norwegian chieftains in Ireland. The contemporaneous occupation of Scotland was their common objective. The Scotland of the beginning of the 9th century was divided between various peoples and states." The greater part belonged to the Picts who were in possession of all the land north of the Firths of Forth and Clyde; they were split up into many tribes, but recognised the authority of one over-king. In the West, south of the Clyde, the land belonged to the Celtic-British kingdom of Strathclyde, which extended southwards to the Derwent in Cumberland. In the east the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Bemicia stretched as far north as the Firth of Forth. Finally, the Celts from Ireland, the Scots proper, had occupied from the 6th century the peninsula of Kintyre, Argyllshire, and the large islands of Islay, Jura, Arran^ and Bute. This was the kingdom of

—

—

—

power in Scotland. The Viking invasion threatened Scotland from three sides, viz. from Orkney and the Hebrides, from Ireland, and from Northumbria. But the country has practically no written history in the 9th centur>'. The settlements of Dalriada, in reality, the greatest political

founded from the north in Caithness, Sutherland, and the Hebrides, are not mentioned at all in Scottish sources, and even the events farther south are very imperfectly elucidated. the Irish writing 839,

when

The war

T. D.

first

invasion in Scotland

is

recorded in

from the year

a fleet of 65 sail landed at Dublin, the Vikings plundering in

Ireland, and then turned

"

The

of the strangers against the Irish;

Kendrick:

A

upon Dalriada, where the king Eoganan and many

History of the Vikings, London 1930,

p. 300.

Chapter

111

33

The Ulster annals, too, record a fight in Fortrenn in which innumerable Scots were killed. A few years after (in 844) Kenneth Mac Alpin, king of Dalriada, laid the land of the Picts under his sway, thus becoming the founder of the later kingdom of others

were

Scotland.

killed, fighting against the Vikings.

In the later years of his reign the Pictish chronicle contains reports Murray and Perth, in the south-east of Scotland, in all

of Viking ravages in

probability during a raid from the

Danes of Northumbria. Kenneth had secured peace for himself by marrying his daughter to Olav the White of Dublin and so becoming the ally of the powerful circle of Norse chieftains already mentioned. We may fairly suppose, with Kendrick, that this may have provided Olav with a pretext for pleading claims as an heir and invading Scotland, on Kenneth's, death in 860. Quite possibly, too, we may be justified in thinking it miore than a mere coincidence that Olav's great expedition to Scotland was contemporaneous with the conquest of Northumibria by the sons of Ragnar Lodbrok. From Ireland and Alba Olav anid his brother Auisl" came to Scotland with an army of Norwegians in 866, ravaging Pictland during two years, from the 1st of January to the 17th of March, and carrying off hostages as security for payment of tribute, which tribute was in fact paid for a long time after. In the third year Olav was beaten by king Constantine. But in the succeeding year (870) he returned, accompanied by his brother Ivar, besieged and captured Dumbarton, the capital of the Britons of Strathclyde on the Clyde, sailing the year after with two hundred ships laden with captives and booty back to Dublin. That very year Olav sailed to Norway; but his son Thorstein the Red (the Oistin of the Irish annals) continued the fights in Scotland until he was treacherously killed by the Scots (875). According to the Landnamabok he made the war in conjunction with Earl Sigurd of Orkney, and won one half of Scotland. This campaign is probably referred to by a short entry in the Pictish chronicle to the effect that the Norse ravaged Pictavia during one whole year. A fresh attack from Ireland in 892 was conducted by Sigtrygg, Ivar's son; and in 900 Ivar's sons, of Dublin, undertook another expedition to Scotland, killing King Domhuall at Dunnottar; and three years after that, Ivar, son of Ivar, plundered Dunkeld, but was killed In the west

—

—

—

in battle in

We

Stratheme.

shall revert in another connection

to

the claim for supremacy in

We

Scotland brought forward later on by the Dublin kings.

emphasise that Olav the White with his brother " About the form

of this

name

Professor C. Marstrander has kindly criven the foUowinii

information: the Auisle of the annals (the old form, later: OUle. into

o)

is

identical

with Old Norse

Kendrick, accordingly, 3

—

Viking Antiquities.

make

here want to Red, and

Ivar, Thorstein the

Auisl,

cf.

Audgisl, Eygisl.

a mistake in identifying this

—

n-i

in

Irish developins;

Alexander Bugge and

name with

Audgisl.

C h

34

waged

the sons of Ivar

the Hebrides and

—

their

at all

a p

war

t

III

e r

in close conjunction with the chieftains of

events partly

— with

the Orkney Earl.

It

was

a view to occupying and ruling Western and Northern Scotland undertaken with the islands and Ireland as

clearly a united effort of expansion with

starting-points.

We

when

get an idea of the extent of the operations

the Irish

annals report that Olav the White carried back as captives from his expedition, in 871, Britons as well as Saxons and Scots.

The there

is

history of the Hebrides

only the story in

who was

is

otherwise

Landnama about

little

a certain

known. eiarl,

In Norse sources

Asbjom

Skerjablese,

by two Vikings, Holmfast Vetormson and Grim, descendants Raum. Ketil They carried off the earl's wife and daughter, selling of the girl to Ketil Trym of Vaerdal in the Trondelag, settled in Iceland. We leam that Asbjom Skerjablese was earl after Tryggve and before Gutorm. But these earls are not mentioned elsewhere; we do not know whether they ever existed; and, moreover, the events cannot be dated. Beyond this, only a few chieftains in the Hebrides have received casual mention. In 941 Muircheartach from Ireland had made an expedition to the islands, and Ragnvald's son, in return, ravaged in Ulster; this Ragnvald is otherwise entirely unknown. One Logmann from the islands operated in Ireland in 962, in alliance with Sigtrygg Olavson, the son of Olav Cuaran of Dublin. But it is impossible to ascertain whether 'Loigmann is in this case Logmenn-, i.e. Law-men? or presiding the title or the name of the man. judges, from the islands are mentioned in 974, too, when Maccus Haraldsson the use of the plural form making it of Man attacked Southern Ireland, indubitable that logmann was in this case used to designate a local chieftain. The first piece of reliable information is given us by the mention of Earl Gille, who held the Hebrides as tributary of the Orkney earl Sigurd the Stout, and was married to his sister. And many men from the Hebrides went killed

>

;

—

with Sigurd to take part in the battle of Clontarf in 1014.

His successor Earl

Torfinn of Orkney (died in 1064) held sway in the Hebrides until, in his last years he had to cede this territory to Gudrod Crovan, King of Man, who later

on appointed his son Logmann as governor of the islands. It was this Logmann who was taken captive by Magnus Barefoot. The title of king is surely connected with the Isle of Man, not with the islands as we know of no indepedent eking- ruling tlie Hebrides in the Viking period.'" " This also applies to Sumarlide of Argyll, son of Gillebrigde, called in the Irish annals king of the islands, about lOoO. His son was Gille Adoninan, the father of Gillebrigde, who had a son Sumarlide (died in 1164). It was this second Sumarlide who in 1156 gained a naval victory over Gudrod, king of Man, laying all the islands from Mull to Man under his sway. As conjectured by Munch, this family may have descended from the Earl Gille, who appears under Sigurd

t!he

Stout, see J>Det norske Folks Historie« II, p. 408.

Sumarlide was married

Chapter

III

35

The Hebrides and Western Scotland were never

unified as one Viking and peninsulais, evidently formed a number of semi-independent petty communities under the changing and disputed supremacy of the Orkney earls and the kings of Man and of Dublin, and increasingly coveted by the kings of Scotland. Magnus Barefoot's expeditions about 1100 enforced the Norwegian claim to supremacy, which was kept up till the peace of Perth in 1266. state.

Tliese

far-flung

settlements

in

islands

Ragnhild, sister of kins Gudriid of Man, and from this niarriage s[)rans Hie desi-enilaiits Sumarlide who reigned as kings over the Northern Hebrides. Historia Norwegiae, from the beginning of the 18lh century, gives exact information about the situation at Hie time,

to

of

relating that the Hebrides

were ruled by kings, the Orkney by the

earl,

both island domi-

nions beiiig tributary to the king of Norway. Sunt enim nierediane in«ule regulis suUimate, bruniales vero comituin presidio decorate, qui utrique regibus Norvegie non modica resoluunt tributa.

CHAPTER

IV.

THE ISLE OF MAN. Man, as we have already mentioned, was regarded by the Norse as belonging to the Hebrides, as the southernmost and the most impor-

The

tant

of

Isle of

these

islands.

In

the

12th

century the

kings of

Man

tried

to

supremacy over all the islands while, during the same period, the bishopric <'Sodoriensis et Manniae» was subordinated to the archiepiscopal seat of Nidaros, in 1152. It was from this time that the history of Man and the history of the Hebrides became so closely bound up with each other. In the Viking period the historical situation was entirely different. While the northern islands were connected most intimately with Orkney and Scotland, the Isle of Man belonged to another sphere of interests, situated as it was between Ireland, England, and Wales, sometimes, indeed, coveted by the Orkney earl, but at closer quarters by the king of Dublin, and sometimes, too, standing under English protection, the island at last actually passing into the possession of the English Crown. At the beginning of the Viking period Man was an entirely Celtic land, manifestly peopled from Ireland, its language being a purely Irish dialect as it (or the remnant of it still preserved) remains to this day. Man had also been christianised from Ireland, and bears many traces of early Irish church institutions; it has little primitive houses of worship and Christian stone monuments of purely Irish character, such as wheel crosses decorated with plaited patterns. As to nationality, then, Man was in the same situation as the Scottish area in Galloway, Kintyre, and the southernmost Hebrides; but geographically it was isolated to a much greater extent, being a self-contained But state on a small scale, the island measuring only about 40 km. by 20. it is a fertile little coimtry with hilly and varied scenery, containing hillmiaintain their royal

ranges of considerable height

—

—

the highest of them, the Snaefell, rising

and provided with good harbours. As a central point in the Irish Sea it has easy access to Scotland and its Isles, as well as to Ireland, England, and Wales. It was bound to become an ideal island for a Viking

to 2000 feet

state.

And, as a matter of fact, the Isle of Man was exposed to early Viking it being recorded that St. Patrick's island off Peel was plundered in 798,

raids,

A

Chapter IV the Vikiiiigs carrying off Dachonna's shrine.

known

37 This was a raid of the well-

early type, a rapid surprise of an island possessing a wealthy eccle-

siastical

endowment

offering an easy prey.

Apart from

this isolated record,

there are no historical sources to throw light on the history of 9th century.

But we may

fairly

assume

Man

in the

that Norse settlement here com-

menoed about the same time as the invasion of Ireland, where the Norse had established themselves in Dublin, Wicklow, and Limerick from about 830.

Man was also conducted by chieftains belonging to the same circle as Ketil Flatnev and Olav the White. It is at that time, in 853, that we have a record to the effect that Man was ravaged by black strangers, i. e. by Danish Vikings, whereas we have the In all probability the occupation of

impression that the islands was open to friendly intercourse with Norsemen from Ireland. The chieftain Tomrar died in a harbour on the coast of Man, after suffering defeat at the

hands of the

Irish in 869.

Ingemmid with

followers also found a refuge in Man, flying from Dublin after

before he founded his

new

its fall in

his

901,

colony in the peninsula of Wirral near Chester.

settlement of Man, then, may be stated with sufficient certainty have been consolidated in the second half of the 9th century. Man is the only British Viking State, besides Orkney, that has its own historian, viz. the author of the Chronicon regum Manniae, in Latin, from- the middle of the 13th century. It is a monastic chronicle written by a monk in the monastery of Russin, founded in 1176. The chronicle does not begin till the year 1000, and its first section is based entirely on earlier writings, above all on Simeon of Durham; but its later parts contain a good deal of local tradition affording much detailed informiation about conditions and events in the island. The chronicle, though not very remarkable as an historical work,

The Norse to

is

yet in

its

own way

a source of considerable interest;

it

is

true that

it

is

concerned with the subject-matter before us h?re. We scarcely get as much as a glimpse of the History of Man antecedent to the 10th century. We have already seen that there were connections with the Vikings in Ireland from about 850; but this does not prove that the island was actually subjectsd to the Dublin kingdom under Olav the White and the later kings of Ivar's line. The first name that might possible be connected with the kings of Man, is that of Maccus Olavson who killed Eric Blood-axe, driven away from York in 954. Eric according to the saga had settled in the Hebrides, ravaging

little

—

—

from there the coasts of the Irish Sea. A chieftain called Eric, king of the islands (Eiric ri na n-Innsi) is mentioned here in an Irish source, together with Conura, sea-king of Lewis and Aedh, the son of Echu.' It is, then, quite ^

Alexander Bugge: Vikingene

I,

Kristiania 1904, p. 178.

C h

38 conceivable that Eric

who

niiay

a

p

t

e r

IV

have been, involved

in

war with

a

Manx

chieftain,

got his revenge at Stanmoor.

This combination which has been proposed by Alexander Bugge, is based upon the name Maccus as it is spelt in Anglo-Saxon, while Irish sources have Maghnus, a name elsewhere only known, at that period, in the royal family The first king of Man mentioned at all in historical records, is of Man. Maccus Haraldsson who died in 976. From his age, he might even be identified with the Maccus of Stanmoor, if his patronymic were not a different one. But, as we know, the statements of the chronicles in that respect do not always agree even where we know that the same man is spoken of. Maccus Haraldsson appears for the first time in 969, when he conquered the whole of Anglesey, which he had however to give up later. In 973 he was one of the eight subject kings rendering homage to English Edgar in Chester; he is on that occasion called king of most of the islands. In the following year he undertook an expedition to the mouth of the Shannon in south-western Ireland, accompanied by many 'dogmen:; (law-men, i. e. chieftains) from the islands. He seized the island of Inniscathaig, plundered St. Senan's grave, and carried off the chieftain Ivar of Limerick. But three years after (977) he was attacked on the banks of the Shannon by Brian Borumbha, king of Munster. Maccus and his two sons were killed with 800 of his followers, and Ivar made his escape.

A He

brother of Maccus's, Gudrod Haraldsson, succeeded him as king of Man.

interfered in a family quarrel between Celtic princes in Wales, and after

he really succeeded in conquering Anglesey him had won and lost. In the following year he drove away a Danish Viking fleet which had ravaged in Scotland first. But Gudrod had at the same time come into conflict with the Orkney earl Sigurd the Stout. Njaal's saga has it that Kare Salmundsson, a mem'ber of Sigurd's retinue, had attacked Man for two years running, fought with Gudrod, and Gudrod himself was killed in a battle in Scotland in killed his son Dimgal. 989. Presumably Man became then dependent on the Orkney earldom, as were already the Hebrides. It is quite impossible that the Dublin king should have been able to make his power felt at this conjuncture, in the same year in which Sigtrygg of the Silken Beard became king after a sanguinary and making two expeditions

in vain,

(986) which his brother before

troubled demise of the Dublin crown.

Then follows another blank

in the history of

Man.

We

are left without

any information for a long time, right down to the middle of the next century. At that date we read about a king, Gudrod Sigtryggsson, a name that might suggest a coimection with the royal family at Dublin, if it were not so common among the Viking chieftains of Western Europe as to become incapable of giving any directions. Nor do we know anything about this king except the

Chapter IV

39

in which he lost his kingdom, viz. in a struggle with Gudrod Haraldsson Crovan who became the progenitor of a new royal family in the Isle of Man. Gudrod Crovan who introduces the line of kings in the Manx kings' chronicle, was the son of a chieftain namied Harald the Black, in Islay, and may have belonged to a side branch of the old Manx dynasty. Gudrod Crovan accompanied Harald Hardrade on his expedition to England, fleeing to his namie-sake King Gudrod of Man after the battle of Stamford Bridge. But he soon gathered a fleet to attack his host, and after having failed in two attempts, he gained a victory at Ramsay and made himself master of the island. The chronicle tells us that he used his power as a conqueror to appropriate all landed property in the island, as did his contempory, William the Conqueror, in England, and the chronicle adds ^ that this is how it has come about that the whole island belongs to the king alone, to this day, and that all the revenue of the soil falls to him.» Gudrod Crovan became the master of Dublin too, and with it of a large portion of Leinster, and he kept the Scots in awe, says the chronicle. He reigned for 16 years, and died in Islay where his father had had his home. His line was from that time onwards kings of Man for a couple of centuries; but the chronicle about them is a somewhat savage piece of history, tainted with fraternial dissensions, fratricides, and civil wars. When, on his great expedition, Magnus Barefoot came to Man in 1098, he stepped straight on to a stricken battle-field on which the dead bodies were still lying unburied. King Magnus secured the island for himself by fortifications, settling fresh colonists there. He extended his conquest further, viz. to Anglesey, which had been the objective of earlier Manx kings too. According to his plan, Man, united with the Hebrides, was to be governed as a Norwegian province; but when Magnus was killed in Ireland in 1103, the throne was transmitted in unbroken succession to the old royal line. A formal subordination to the Norwegian crown was however regularly maintained right down to the death of Hakon Hakonson; but the Manx kings were at the same time in the habit of receiving the accolade from' the kings of England, and of counting on their friendship. The last Norwegian king, Magnus Olavsson, died in the year 1265, and Man with the Hebrides was then ceded by the Norwegian Crown to Scotland. The Manx however vigorously refused to submit to Scottish supremacy. After long-continued struggles between England and Scotland the island was finally annexed to England towards the middle of the 14th century. In 1406 Henry the 4th gave the island to Sir John Stanley, of the Derby family, and his descendants ruled over it for more than four hundred years. They did not call themselves kings, but bore on solemn occasions the insignia of royal authority, crown and sceptre; the Isle of Man was governed as an independent state, even separated from England by a customs boundary,

way

i

C h

40

down

a

2)

t

e r

I

V

and from then onwards by a lieutenant-governor as the substitute of the king. Man still has its own constitution, does not pay taxes to the kingdom of England, and does not obey English laws that have not in addition been passed by the Manx House of Keys as acts of Tynwald. This unique continuity, then, in the history of Man accounts for the political organisation of the island preserving to this day the main characteristics of a Norse Viking community. When the Manx submitted to the king of England, they

to 1825,

made

a condition that their

it

and law were

to

defined with precision preserved.

is still

own

be preserved, and

As

how a

<

old-established forms of government

in a petition to the king in 1417 they

everything was to be done.

folk-thing

or mote, the

It is

that tradition that

Manx assembly,

in virtue of

two most venerable of its kind, being of the sami3 age as the «Althing; of Iceland and the < Lagthing) of the Faroes. The king is now repirescnted by the lieutenant-goivernor, residing at Peel. He has a body of councillors, the council:, in which sit, besides him, the <;bishop of Sodor and Man? and the six highest officials of the island. This its

age, ranks with

covmcil

now

tlie

acts as the

Upper House

of the legislative asisemibly.

The lower

an elected national assembly, called The house of Keys>, consisting These were in medieval Latin called claves legis, i. e. the

house

is

of 24

members.

keys of the law, because they keep the law locked up in their breasts. It has been conjectured that this assembly would correspond to the Old Norse here composed of two dozen members.- The designation of the logrette question has also been raised whether the name of claves legis might not be connected with the designation logmen which appears several times in the Logmen from the islands, Irish sources miention history of the islands. and we hear about the king of Man attended by his loigmen, evidently meaning chieftains in attendance on the king. The logmen would then have been first translated into Latin as the claves legis and again translated into English as the keys The derivation does not look very striking, and a more obvious etymology has recently been proposed by professor Marstrander in explaining the keys as the Old Norse kuiSr.' The kui&r was a typical Icelandic institution. It can be traced back as far as the legal history of Iceland goes, and was no doubt brought over, in the 9th century, by the settlers from their native country. The kui&r was a highly placed jury, consisting

—

.

of 9 (bua-kui5r) or 12 it

was necessary

'

Of.

«logretta"-.

the

be

members a

man

To be admitted

(tylftarkui5r).

of landed property

Gulathing, where a dozen

men from

and

to possess

each «fylki

>

(or

as a

member,

a fortune large

county)

sat

in

the

" Carl J. S. Althing had 4 dozen members. Det Norske landnam pa Man. Norsk tidsskrift for sprogvidenskap, vol. VI,

The

Marstrander: Oslo, 1932.

to

:

logretta

Summary

of the Icelandic

dn English, p. 333

ff.

C h enough

to place the

Similarly the

a

p

t

e r

V

I

41

owner under the obligation

Manx keys had

of paying a fixed

amount

of

century to be landed men, like the freeholders in England, and to have 40 or 50 pounds of their own. According to a document of 1422 the institution of the keys had once, in the tax.

common

time of king Gudrod, been

in the 17th

to

Man and

the Hebrides, the latter being

represented by 8 members.

Marstrander states that phonetically the old Norwegian kulbr could not to develop into Manx kei, spelt key. As a loan-word the term can claim a considerable age in Manx Gaelic; it must in any case be older than

fail

the 13th century.*

The House

of

Keys has

the laws are not valid

Tynwald

Hill,

i.

e.

till

in our days its own premises in Douglas; but they have been pronounced in the open air on

the thing-field

mound. The Latin chronicle

spells the

name

Tingualla.^

The

<

-mound

thing

of four old high-roads.

situated as centrally as might be, at the crossing

is

The

things-meadow) is a plateau and near its northern edge in the middle of it is the thing -mound. It is an artificial mound, measuring 25 m. across and rather more than 3 m. in height. In our time it consists of three level terraces with nearly perpendicular sides, but this shape is probably due to later reconstruction. Originally it was in all probability an evenly rounded mound. The thing -mound of Man is of genuine Scandinavian character. In the Soandinavian countries it was a very wide-spread practice to assemble the thing on or near an old grave-mound. Grave-mounds named «thing;^-mound (thinghaug) are very common all over the North," but we have no example there of an artificial mound being built up for the purpose serving as a thing -place. But in Man the case is altered, the island having no monuments of this kind from past time, nor any new one, erected during the Viking period. The "thing -mound of Man was probably built for the purpose of giving the ithing/>-place a definite character familiar to the builders from the usages of their native lands. of

no great

thing-voll

>

(or

—

elevation, extending east-west,

—

<

<

On T^Tiwald day,

and

all

Hill the

thing

commences

the forms prescribed

in

the

its

yearly sittings on

petition

of

1417

are

St.

John's

kept up

according to the traditions handed down to that time. The king is hera addressed as follows: Thou shall comie in royal robes and sit on Tynwald

' Mairstrander, 1. c, " e. Chronicon Manniae (r2'28): vpiiit r?.\ Olavus p. 3.54. f;. the ad locum qui dicitur Tingualla in 1237: congregatio totius Manniensis populi apud Tin" gualla Carl Neergaard: Thingihoie og Thingdysser. Aarboger for Nord. Oldk. 1902. Sune Lindqvist, Inglingchogen och Tynwall Hill. Hig, Slockholm 192'), p. 113.

—— —

—

,

C h

42

apt

e r

IV

royal drapery and cushions. Thy face and thy sword shall be held before thee with its point turu'ed upwards. Thy barons shall sit, according to their rank, by thy sides, thy retainers and thy deemsters shall stand before thee, likewise the priests, and the knights, the esquires, and the guards, all according to their rank. And the greatest worthies of the land. The Keys, shall be called before the deemsters to set forth their wishes and to receive information about the government of the land and about thy will. The common people Hill

oil

a

chair

covered

with

shall be turned to the east,

shall stand outside in a circle, inside the fenced area.;;

We

perceive that the

forms preserved have a tinge of the rank distinctions of feudality, but the arrangement of the thing is in reality the time-honoured one in accordance with genuine Norwegian practice. When the tiling? is to be opened, the king's substitute, the Co'Uncil and the <:Keysi», escorted by soldiers, walk in procession to the mound; this is «logbergsganga as it was called in Iceland when the court walked to the
—

—

—

,

m

The

Isle of

Man

is

divided, for administrative purposes, into six sheadings,

each comprising three parishes, Manx skeery, which in their turn are subThis terminology and in consequence also the administrative principles from which it originated, are according to Marstrander, all of Norwegian origin. The term sheading is a compound the latter part well known of which is Old Norwegian f>ing in the sense district of assize from Iceland, Hardanger (where thing; in the tithe census is used synonymous with
divided into 8 to 15 treens.'

'

war galley. The skei^ was quite a common type of ship The Isle of Man was in consequence, at any rate ''

Marstrander,

1.

c, p. 340.

,

in the Irish Sea. in the 12th century,

C h divided into six

one

skei'^ at

<

skibreder

>

a p

t

e r

I

V

43

or sheadings, each of which was bound to place Compare the Isle of Gotland, which

the disposal of the king.

and population approximates Man, and which had equipped ships.

in size fully

The

Manx

treen, constituting a subdivision of the sheading,

equivalent of what on Norwegian soil was

named

the Gulathinglag, partly lide, as in Borgarsyssel,

and obliged

prising several estates or farms

i.

is

to furnish

seven

explained as the

partly manngerd, as in

e.

levying district com-

one fully equipped man. Now, as the numbers of treens within the sheading at the beginning of the 16th century varied between 26 and 32, each sheading or skibredes had in consequence to supply a skei5 or war galley with a crew of 26 to 32 men, to supply

the Isle of Man supplied the king with six galleys of 13 thwarts, according to the Gulathing law the smallest size of a langskib;=>. The argument is confirmed by king Robert's charter of 1313 which expressly stipulates that i.e.

the of

Manx levy shall comprise six Man disposed of other naval

ships.

It

goes without saying that the Isle

forces apart from these six

war

galleys.

Independent of the enlisted fleet of the king, the various chiefs maintained their own ships in Man as in Norway. The same system of levies was also carried through in the Norwegian districts of Ireland. The place-names of Man do not give any definite clue to the age of this levy isystem in the Island.

From

a linguistical point of view

it can only be said Norwegian period, it may e. g. But it is likely to be much older,

that the treen division originated during the

have been the work of Gudrod Crovan. perhaps dating from the first period of conquest in the 9th century. The constitution of the Isle of Man remains the same to this day, according to the premiise of preserving it, given to the Manx when they submitted to the king of England, and it is beyond a doubt based on the earlier thing> organisation of the Viking time. Man was a small Viking state as early as about 850, and we have reason to believe that the thing -organisation in the old-established forms dates from a time shortly after the Norse occupation of the island. It is the only Viking colony in the British Isles showing such distinct traces of the old organisation and legal system that the Vikings brought with them wherever they settled. We shall see that TingvoU as a place-name is widely used in Western and Northern England. Everywhere the Norse settlers showed the same innate ability to establish ordered societies on the basis of law.

The

Isle of

Man was

not destined to play any very prominent part in the Viking period, and cannot by any means be compared to the Orkneys in this respect, nor rival Dublin or York, the leading Norse kingdoms in the West. The Isle of Man was chiefly important by its central situation, making it an intermediate link between the colonies in

political history of the

C h

44 Ireland and England; in itself cal history of the

Viking time.

it

a

p

t

e r

IV

was only a surbordinate

What

is

factor in the politi-

interesting in the Isle of

Man

is its

inner history, offering as it does, the best-known example of a Viking settlement in a Celtic land. This does not only apply to the constitution, but to

The Isle of Man is famous for its Degreat number of sculptured stone monuments from the Viking period. corated stone crosses are found in considerable number in the churchyards of the ancient Norse settlements in Man. The crosses themselves are of the other aspects of cultural life as well.

Scottish type, consisting of a rectangular slab witli the cross sculptured into

the flat surface, not

worked

in outline like the wheel-crosses of Ireland, or

the earlier Celtic crosses found in the Isle of Man.

The type

Norse crosses does, indeed, show that the Norse had immigrated into the Isle of Man from the north, from Scottish territory. We have besides, from Scotland and the Isles some few monuments of Scottish type bearing Norse inscriptions. The earliest Manx crosises likewise show the essential form of Scottish decorative art, though they present Scottish-Celtic ribbon-interlacements executed in of

a somewhat simplified and ooaiTsened design. But purely Scandinavian band are soon introduced, or the plaited decorations are replaced by Scandinavian animal ornaments. The figure subjects are more striking still, inspired as they are by Celtic examples, but wih their motives drawn from Northern myths. To this must be added the inscriptions, always written in runes and in the Norse language. They are memorial inscriptions, very briefly expressed and Olav with standing formulas like the' one carved on a cross at Ballangh: patterns

In some rare instances the Gaut made this and all in Man (on a cross by Kirk Michael). Though meagre enough as to their contents, these inscriptions give us an interesting picture of the mixture of Norwegian and Celtic names. We find groups of purely Norwegian families, others comprising only Celtic names, and, finally, several groups that show a crossing of Norse and Celtic elements." The mixture of the two races meieiting in the island is clearly descernible. A certain Celt, Mael Brigde, orders a magnificent cross, inscribed with runes in the Norse language, to be made by Gaut, the rune-

Ljotulvson raised this cross after Ulv, his son.

rune-carver adds his name:

The Norseman Thorleiv erects a name of Fiac, and so probably bom Pictish name, also known in Scotland,

memory

ef his son, of the

carver.

cross in

Celtic

of a Celtic mother. Druian, bearing

a

married to Athmhaoil, a Celtic woman,

is

the son of a Celt, Dugald, and

who has her memorial

carved

in

^ P. M. C. Kermode, F. S. A.: Manx Crosses. London 1907, p. 90 — Kemiode counts names in runic inscriptions from the Viking period in Man. Out of this number 26 first names and two surnames are Scandinavian, 12 are Celtic, and 3 possibly Celtic or Pictish.

41

J

Chapter IV

45

Norse runes. The inference evidently is that these Celtic Manx people belonged to the same circle as the leading Norwegians, and that they probably spoke the Norse language too. We have here unique documents to show the intermixture of the Norse and the Celtic elements of population in Man. Many traces of similar conditions may be discerned elsewhere in the British Isles, for instance in the choice of personal

names within

the families of the chief-

Dublin dynasty.

But the chieftains are a class alliances may matrimonial often their be due to political combinations apart; that do not necessarily influence the private relations of common people. tains in the Hebrides, or in the

What makes

Man so interesting is precisely who did not play leading parts. In these name known from the history of the times.

the inscriptions in the Isle of

the fact that they concern people

we do not find a single But they were of course people of prominent position important freeholders since they were able to erect such memoriaLs; they were the class among all the most representative of the culture and social life of the period. By their language, their runes, and their sculptures, the crosses of the Isle of Man also give us an impression of the mental character of a Viking settlement in the British Isles. The extensive use of the runes is in itself a point of high interest. The runes applied present a peculiar variation of the shortstroke characters, the so-called Manx runes, known also in Norway and Sweden (in Jseren, in Ostergotland, in Gotland), and in some cases also secret Tunes, a kind of cipher only accessible to the fully initiated. There was all through the pagan times of the North an intimate connection between runecraft and poetry, and it cannot be doubted that the art of the skalds was pursued in the Viking colonies as well as at home. Alexander Bugge has seen reason to believe that the Edda poem Rigsl^ula was composed in honour of the royal family of the Isle of Man." This, of course, can never be ascertained. But the choice of pictures in the Manx rimic crosses bears evidence that the myths and heroic legends of the Edda poetry were well known in the Isle of Man as everywhere else in the North; among the pictures sculptured in the Manx crosses are represented the meeting between Frey and Gerd, scenes from Ragnarokk, and the wide-spread legend of Sigurd Fafnisbane, the most popular of all. We shall revert later on to the general survey of Scandinavian sculptured stones in the British area. Here they had only to be mentioned as a feature characterising the Isle of Man as a Norse kingdom. incriptions

—

—

Alexander Bugge: Vikingerne

I.

Kristiania 1904, pp. 280

ff.

CHAPTER

V.

IRELAND. THE NORWEGIAN INVASION UNDER TORGISL AND OLAV THE WHITE. Ireland, during the early Middle Ages, presents one of the most fascinating

Ireland was, with Brittanny and the West of Great Britain, the only land where a Celtic people had preserved its nationality and its language, once predominant over a great part of the European Continent. And the Irish had maintained not only their national indepen-

chapters of European history.

dence, they had also stuck to their primitive prehistoric form of social as transmitted from a very remote past.

The

clan, the family in the

life,

most

extended sense of the word, was the social unit, consolidated by common blood and by joint proprietorship, despotically led by a senior member. Several clans might sometimes be united as one tribe, governed by a chieftain, and the tribes again were fused into larger kingdoms, Connaught, Ulster, Leinster and Munster, and finally Meath possessing the hill of Tara, the seat of the high-king of

all

Ireland.

become a Roman province, had never been stamped with that highly developed legal order and administration which the Romans Ireland had never

imposed upon their whole empire, and which does in fact form the foundation of the new medieval states of Western Europe. The Irish did, indeed, in a way consider themselves one people, with a conscious feelinig of nationality; but they had no gift for creating internal unity and organisation. All the social conditions bore the stamp of ancient barbarism, and the normal state of affairs was characterised by ever-lasting internal feuds between tribes and chieftains. Christianity was the only heritage of any importance that Ireland received from the classical civilisation of Antiquitj'. The western provinces, Gaul and Britain, had an organised church at the beginnimg of the 4th century, and during their intercourse with England and the Continent it was impossible that the Irish should not come into contact with Christianity.^ Commercial relations with Ireland are mentioned by Tacitus speaking about Agriconquering Ireland. The Irish sea-ports were known through commerce and merchants (portusque per commercia et negotiatores cognili). •

cola's plans of

C h a p

I

e r

V

47

was an Irishman by birth, but had received his ecclesiastical education on the Continent, when he returned to Ireland in 433 A. D. There are vestiges of Christians in Ireland before his day, and the legends mention Irish saints and ecclesiastics of Irish birth that lived before St. Patrick. The history of the Irish church, however, commences with him, and a most peculiar and fascinating history it is. St.

Patrick, the apostle of Ireland,

In Ireland the church for the first time faced the task of founding its organisation in a barbarous land beyond the frontiers of civilised nations,

without the

soil

being prepared for the growth of the higher social institutions

long established already in the pirovinces of the Roman empire. So much the more does the church of Ireland deserve admiration for its achievement in

adapting the organisation to the social conditions of the country. The property of the church was settled according to the clan customs, the bishops were looked,

upon as a kind of

tribal chieftains

in their relatinos to their sub-

system affected the forms of Irish family organisation. Just as the Church of the Roman Empire had been based on a highly organised society, so it had, in Ireland, to descend to a people still without any notions of estate authority and state adminiistration. But the Church of Ireland was of no less importance on that account. The most peculiar feature of the Irish church is to be found in the monastic schools, which are unlike anything else in ancient Christendom. It is most likely that these schools had their models in earlier Irish traditions transmitted from the times of paganism, i. e. from an instruction in religion and folk-lore similar to the schools of the druids in Gaul as recorded by Caesar. The monastic schools were at all events frequented with surpassing enthusiasm. Findian's monastery at Clonard was the first of them, founded about 520 A. D., and frequented by nearly 3000 students at a time; it was followed in quick succession by quite a number of others, scattered over the whole of Ireland. The Irish monasteries, during their great time, were among the most important centres of learning and ecclesiastical education in all Western Europe, though at the same time offering but the most primitive conditions of life to its residents. Monks and scholars lived in small stone-huts, each of the inmates having a small piece of land to cultivate, some sheep to tend for his subsistence. Here Greek was still studied and read at a time when Irethe Greek language and writing was neglected in England and France. land became the centre of a missionary activity that had the half of Europe for its field, and the home of scholars who gained prominent positions in the leading nations. Other Irish clerics were attracted by hermit life modelled on the examples set by ancient Egypt; they went out to far-off islands in the ocean, to Shetland, to the Faroes, and to Iceland, there to live the retired life of holy men. Many of these places afterwards became famous pilgrim resorts, ordinateis, the mionastical

48

C ha pt

.

e r

V

such as for instance St. Molaise's cave in Holy Island by Lamlash, where also Norwegian pilgrims of the saga times have left their names carved in runic characters.It may possibly be questioned whether these wandering Irish saints may not even have reached out-lying islands on the coast of Norway, some places in our country being named Papey, which name may presumably be explained as containing papi, the Norse word for an Irish cleric. We also owe to the Irish church a most remarkable national literature.

The writings are of course largely religious in character, or they are ordinary works of science, such as works on geography or astronomy; but also a great store of old Irish poetry, Irish popular legends, and historical tradition was put down in writing. It is a literature that gives a miagnif icent picture of the people and the society of ancient Ireland. The contemporary events are seen from the same angle as the legendary deeds of the past. Everything is depicted in the manmer of heroic poetry, with colossal exaggerations; and the subjectalways the same, whether belornging to the past or to the present, inter-tribal wars, contests about pastures and cattle, manslaughter and

mattier viz,

is

The chaotic political conditions called forth ever-varying The Irish themselves felt and thought as if they lived in a and like a proud people felt bound to act in accordance with their

blood-feuds.

fantastic events.

heroic age,

glorious traditions.

We

are also indebted to the Irish writers for a considerable amount of

authentic information

conoeming

the history of the

Viking period.

Most of

their writings are armalistic records mentioning the events as they occur year

crowded details, the names of Irish and Norwegian and pillage. The authors themselves are without any clear idea of the general trend of the events, they have no sense of causality, and in spite of all the information they record, they impart no exact impression of what really happened. The single items oif information, on the other hand, are undoubtedly trustworthy. We may feel sure about the names, the events, and their chronological succession even though the years stated may need some correction^ (of mistakes about one year or a few years.) It is quite possible, too, that even the Irish living at the time of the events recorded may have received as confused impressions of them as had, apparently, the annalists. The 9th century was an unbroken oontinuation of those ever-lasting and aimless feuds between kings and chieftains that had filled Irish history during centuriois before the Viking times, only that the Norse new-comers at that period interfered in the struggle. after year, a confusion of

chieftains, battles, aissaults

"

Magnus Olsen: Runerne

skapsselskapets skrifter C. H. R. Steenstrup:

II.

i

St.

Norniannerne

VidenJohannes

Molaise's celle pa Holy Island, Arran, Scotland.

Hist, filos. klasse 1912. II,

pp.105

No.

1.

Kristiania

ICI'2.

''

f.

J

C

h a p

t

e r

V

^

49

The first attack on Ireland is, as mentioned above, recorded in the year 795, when occurred the plundering of the church in the island of Rathlin, Lambey, off the coiast of Leinster, immiediately north of Dublin. In 797 the North-east of Ulster was madie to suffer, plundierings taking place at the same time in Scotland and Man. In 807 Innishmurray by Sligo, and part of Roscommon were ravaged; in 812 Connemara, in 813 Mayo, in 819 two islands at the mouth of Wexford and also Howth by Dublin, where the Vikings carried off a number of women; in 820 they plundered Cork and Cape Clear; in 821 Bangor, where they destroyed St. Comhgall's monastery and highschool; in 822 Downpatrick; in 823 they disembarked in Skellig Michael, a bare island on the south-w&stem coast of Ireland, where they found the hermit Edgall, whom they carried off as a captive; he died among them from starvation and thirst. In the subsequent years the operations increase in extent and strength. Plunderings aire of yearly occurrence in Ulster and Leinlittle

about Dublin, in Meath, in the north at Londonderry, and in the west Limerick, in Wicklow, Louth, and Down.* The names alone suffice to

ster,

at

show the magnitude of these military expeditions. As the Irish chronicle s.ays, there was no harbour or landing-place without fleets of pirates. «The ocean poured torrents of foreigners over Erin-. They sailed round the coasts, and up the rivers, and far on into the country, from the north at Antrim and Donegal, from the east at Dublin, from the south at Waterford and Cork, and from the west at Limerick. They also pillaged in the middle of winter, as for instance when they ravaged Clonmore on Christmaseve in 835, and we hear at the same time of Vikings at the month of the river Dee near Wicklow. Evidently, fresh Viking crowds kept pouring in. In 820 the Ulster annals record their complaint of the destruction of the land

by the pagans, devastatio regni a gentilibus, and in the following years things had moved steadily from bad to worse. '

But amidst

all

fifteen

these calamities, the Irish calmly continued their internal

saw the Vikings plunder Armagh for the first came to Armagh too, carrying off the cattle of the abbot. The king of Cashel, Feidhlimidh, fell upon Clonmacnois with sword and fire, the king of Leinster defeated the men of Kildare, the high-king of Ireland subjugated Leinster and plundered Meath, because the men of Ulster had killed his son Kenneth. It is only natural that the Vikings should establish themselves in the country, Mid with growing assurance. In 836 there was a fleet 60 ships strong in the river Boj-ne, and as many ships In 831, the year that

feuds.

time, the king of Ireland, Conchobar,

*

is

A

made

pp. 668 4

—

detailed

list

out in Arthur

of all

Na

f.

Viking Antiquities.

between 795 and 890 coming of Henry II, vol. I,

the plunderings mentioned in the annals

Clerigh:

The History

of Ireland to the

C

50 ^

They

in the Liff ey.

laid

houses, and cattle.

number

h a p

e r

t

waste the whole of

The armed

fertile

force of the

never heard

of killed hitherto

V

of.

Meath, destroyimg churches, was defeated with a

Irish

This was also the

strangers took up their quarters in Dublin (Irish:

Ath

first

year the

From

Cliath).

this

time we have also records of Viking fortifications, strong-holds from which issued their armed expeditions through the country. In 839 it is reported that
Linn-Duachail in Louth, and one

at

Linn Roio; finally Dublin was

for-

tified in 841.

Among (Saxolb),

the Norwegian

who

chieftains

of

this

suffered a defeat in 836;

Aun

time are mentioned Saksulv Fila (Onphile jarla),

who

fell

Tomhrair (Thorer), who fell in 847; and the greatest of them all Turgeis (Thorgisl), who was caught and killed in 845. Thorgisl came to Ireland in 845; Earl

about 839, as recorded in the writing about the war of the Irish against the strangers, with a large royal fleet, and became the king of all the strangers in

Northern Ireland. In Norse tradition he is mentioned as the first Norwegian king of Dublin,'' one of the very few Viking chieftains whose memory was preserved in Norway. His name also left deep traces in later Irish tradition, as for instance in the following prophetic verses in the writing about the war of the Irish against the strangers:

—

—

Seven years shall they be not weak their power in the High King-ship of Erin, in the abbacy of every church, the Heathen of the port of Dublin, there shall be an abbot of them over this my church.

He

shall not attend to matins,

without Pater, without Credo, without Gaelic; only foreign tongue.

According

to later oral tradition

of Dublin, securing his

''

Thorgisl did not only

power by building

fortified posts

Snorre: Heimskringla, Harald Harfagres saga, chapter 35:

as a son of Harald Fairhair.

Scotland, Britain,

He and

liLs

make himself master

and castles Torgisl

is

in

Northern

here presented

brother Frode went as Vikings west-over-sea

and Ireland, and became the

first lords of

Dublin.

to

Torgisl remained king

Dublin for a long time, but the Irish played him false and he was killed there. The of the tradition are correct, only that Torgisl was no son of Harald Fairhair's. Giraldus Canibrensis, too who came to Ireland with the Norman conquerors in 1170 mentions Turgesius as the first ruler over the Norse in Ireland. of

main points

—

—

C h

a

p

e r

t

V

51

priests from their benefices, possessed himand chose for himself the bishop's seat and cathedral self of the monasteries, of Armagh, the metropolis of the church of Ireland. According to the chronicle he miade himself abbot of Armagh. His wife Otta (Old Norse: Ottkatla)" resided in Clonmacnois, the most important ecclesdastlcal centre next to Armagh, where she gave oracles from the altar. It is probably going too far to imagine that Thorgisl should have consecrated the churches as heathen temples (hof).'' The statement that he made himself abbot at Armagh does not necessarily mean more than his possessing himself of the monastery and the bishop's seat. We know however that Dublin had once a iiof, consecrated to the worship of Thor; it contained, lying on the altar, Thor's ring, which was carried off by the Irish in 996; and north of the town was Thor's holy grove, burnt down in the Irish attack A. D. 1000. The Dublin people were moreover called «Thor's tribes and «Tbor's chief tains».

also drove the

Ireland, he

It is

certain, at all events, that Thorgisl in later times

was remembered as the

leader of a deliberate Norwegian occupation of Ireland, and the sources bear

had established themselves very widely about the country. As early as 826 the Ulster annals speak about the strangers in Airthir (in Meath) in such a way as to convey the impression that they were residents. In 835 the heathens from Inver Dea (Archlow) are spoken of in the same way, and in 839 the Norse of Lough Neagh. The sources contain no information as to whether the invasion aimed at permanent settlement witness to

it

that the Vikings

at this early stage;

they only

tell

us of fortifications erected as starting-points

But the posicomprehensive about 840 that it was bound to grow into attempts at real conquest. The French chronicler Prudentius is referring to this time when he relates that the Irish had to pay tribute to the Norse for many years. But in 845 the Norse evidently suffered a severe defeat, as recorded in the annals. Thorgisl made an expedition across Lough Ribh, plundering Connact and Meath, burning Clonmacnois and its oratories, likewise Cheain Fearta Brennain, Tir-da-Glas, Lothra, and many other places. But King Niall, for extensive military expeditions with profitable plundering. tion of the Vikings

was

at all events so

son of Aedh defeated the strangers in a battle at Megh Ita, killing countless numbers of enemies. Thorgisl was led captive by Maelseclilainn, and afterwards drowned in Lough Uair (L. Owel) by a miracle worked by God and Kiaran and all the saints. This was the beginning of a general rising of the

°

Carl

J.

S.

Marstrander:

skapsselskapets Skrifter 1915,

Bugge:

Vikingerne

I,

Bidrag II.

til

del norske sprogs liistorie

Hist.-filos. klasse, no. 5.

Kristiania 1904. pp.140

f.

i

Irland, p. 53.

Kristiania 1916.

Viden-

'Alexander

C

52

h a p

t

e r

V

The Norwegians did indeed open the struggle Irish against the strangers. by a revenge expedition against Maelsechlainn, but soon they in their turn were furiously attacked from all sides. The Dublin men under Hakon (Agond) were beaten by Cearbhall, king of Ossory, 1200 of them being killed (847). The next year 700 of them fell before King Maelsechlainn in Meath. Then Olchober and Lorcan led the men of Leinster and Ulster to a victorious battle Necktan in Kildare; Earl Thorer (Tomhrair), the heir to the throne of the king of Lochlann, was slain with 1200 of his men. Immediately after the Irish gained a fresh victory over <:the heathen of Derry: where again 1200 men were killed. Several hundred fell in fight against Tighemach in Meath too, and 500 men at Maeltuile in a fight against the men of Ulster. In 849, indeed, the Norwegians took the offenisive, pursuing the Irish through the half of Ireland, from the Shannon to the sea, but in the same year Dublin too was plundered by Maelsechlainn and Tighemach. The Norwegians had received some support fromi an Irish ally, King Cinead mac Conaing of Ciannachta (in Louth); but evidently they had, in the main, had tile worst of it, fighting against a strong and wide-spread confederacy formed for the purpose of breaking the Norse dominion. At this conjuncture yet another enemy made his appeiaraince, viz. a Danish Viking fleet, 104 ships strong, commanded by the chieftain Orm (Horm) who was operating in English waters at the time.*" The Irish annals give a dramatically vivid description of how the Danes landed and gained their first victory over the Norwegians (849): <;they fought a hard-won battle against the Norwegians, killed thrice as many as their own number, beheading every man they killed. The Danes thereupon took the ships they had cleared, likewiise carrying off the women of the Norwegians, gold and goods, and so God deprived them of what they had taken from churches, from altars, and from the saints of Erin.> The ally of the Norwegians, Cinead, had at the same time been taken prisoner, in a raid, by Maelsechlainn who had him drowned, ibecause in alliance with Lochlanns he had burnt the holy edifices: Thus this mode of execution was the punishment for sacrilege, like the punishment inflicted on Torgisl. The year after, in 850, it is recorded that the Danes ' the black strangers», landed at Dublin where they inflicted a severe defeat on
,

These ships assuredly were a part of the Danish fleet that left the Continent at that main force of which fell upon England; most probably Horm and his fleet had been hired by the Irish as a mercenary force to support the fight against the Norse. °

time, and the

C h

a p

t

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V

53

moving to Snaim Aignech. A fierce and ruthless battle was fought here, and such a number of men killed at sea had never been heard of. The Danes were defeated. It was at this extremity that, after the battle, Orm proposed to his host that they should offer up prayers to St. Patrick for vicThe two Norwegian chieftains, in tory.
.

of all classes.

here we get the following drastic picture of Viking warfare: After the battle messengers from Maelsechlainn, the high-king of Ireland, came to the Danes. They found the army encamped on the very battle-field engaged in cooking their meat. The cauldrons were placed on top of heaps of fallen Norwegians, with spits stuck in among the bodies, and the fires burning them It is

so that their bellies burst revealing the welter of meat amid pork eaten the night before.

The messengers reproached them with such

conduct,

but

they answered that their enemies would have wished to do the same to

them.

The Danes,

gold and silver to

in accordance with their promise, St.

gave a big chest

Patrick; <'for», says the chronicle,

the

full of

Danes had

at

least a kind of piety; they were for piety's sake capable of ceasing for a while

The report says, by way of conclusion, that from their eating and drinking. was a great encouragement for all the Irish by the destruction inflicted on the Lochlanns. It is evident that the Norwegians in Ireland had suffered a decisive defeat. After three years of struggle with varying success the allied Danes and Irish had come out victorious. But shortly after the Irish annals state unanimously that in this year, the sixth of the reign of Maelsechlainn (853), Olav (Amblaeibh) Konung i. e. the son of the king of Lochlann came to Ireland and all the strangers submitted to him, and he exacted tribute from the Irish. One writing adds

this struggle

—

—

same duties. > Two more brothers are mentioned, viz. Sigtrj'gg and Auisl. In the following years we find Olav as lord of a Norwegian dominion in Ireland having Dublin as its centre, and it is clear enough that he had arrived with a superior force reestablishing the Norwegian power. There is no direct record of any fight on his arrival, but we may infer that he first marched against the Danish Viking army in Ireland. For in the him, exacting the

C

54

h a p

t

e r

V

year in which Olav landed in Ireland, we hear that Orm and the Danes came to King Cearbhall of Ossory and got his assistance against the Lochlanns, because they feared the forces of the Lochlanns. The Danes then became the

mercenaries of Cearbhall, taking part in several of his expeditions until they It may possibly have been these 'black stranleft Ireland some time after.

who pillaged in the Isle of Man in 853. The chieftain Orm was afterwards killed by Roderick, the king of the Britons according to the Ulster

gers*

,

annals of 856.

This

Roderick, king of the Britons

identical with Roderick Wales, the event the Great of and is affirmed by other annals. Orm's Viking army was then probably disbanded, the army that had been the only enemy strong enough to endanger the position of the Norwegians in Dublin. King Olav of Dublin is identical with the Olav Hvite (i. e. The White) familiar to Norse tradition. As mentioned above, he was married to a daughter of Ketil Flatnef, and their son, Thorstein the Red, was married to Turid, daughter of Eyvind Eastman, and the sister of Helge Magre (i. e. The Thin). Olav the White was in this way connected with the circle of powerful chiefis

Are Frode mentions him in the Islendingabok (about 1130) as son of Ingjald, son of Gu'drod, son of Halvdan Hvitbein, king of the Uplands in Norway. The Landnama, from the beginning of the 13th century, gives about the same pedigree, and adds that Olav was a great warrior king, who went ravaging west-oversea, and gained Dublin in Ireland, and Dublinshire, becoming king there and marrying Aud the Deep-minded. Olav the White has been preserved by tradition as a glorious name, adorning the noble pedigrees of Iceland, but without any real meaning, and his own pedigree as given by Are Frode, also proves to be in a very doubtful state of preservation. We have an Irish source too, on this subject, viz. the three fragments of annals referred to the year 873, that is to say quite contemporaneous; here the ancestors of Olav are given as follows: Godhfraidh, Ragnaill, Godfraidh, Godfraidh Conung. The same author mentions, in another connection, that he has had some information about the state of affairs in Norway, even though he has not recorded anything except what concerns Ireland directly, which may probably be taken to mean that he has his information about Olav's pedigree from a oontempory Norwegian informant. This source must of course be preferred to Icelandic genealogical lines, composed at a much later time. No weight whatever can be attached to the Icelanders connecting the Dublin kings with the family of Harald Fairhair. The true ancestors of Olav the White are unknown in Norse tradition. We can only assume as a probability that there was some inner connection between the two occupations of Thorgisl and of Olav the White. We mentioned above the information given in the contemporary French chronicle, that the Irish were tributary to the Norwegians under Thorgisl; and we learn from an tains in the Hebrides, the anoestors of the leading Icelandic families.

Chapter Irish source that Olav brought orders

taxes to be paid.

from

His father, in Norway,

V

55

many

his father for

is conisequeaitly

impoists

and

considered to be the

head of the family, and so the over-lord of the Dublin kingdom. This can only be interpreted as mieaning that Thoirgisl's conquest of Ireland originated from a particular Norwegian kingdom, and that the masters of Dublin kept up a continued connection with their ruative land. Olav the White, then, when making himself master of the strangers in Erin, acted as the rightful lord according to the Norwegian view, and on a mandate from his father to take possession of the kingdom. The Irish annals here give us a glimpse of historical facts left in deep obscurity by Norwegian sources, viz. the relations between Norway and the Viking kingdoms about the middle of the 9th century. We catch a stray hint of organised conquest receiving support from the home land, and restarted with renewed forces after a defeat. In Irish sources the same expression is used about ThorgisI and Olav alike, viz. that they came with royal fleets. This expression is not used about the preceding casual Viking raiders; it must In the case designate deliberately planned enterprises on a larger scale. before us, accordingly, we have not to do with Viking raids proper, but with a planned Norwegian invasion of Ireland. By these statements the Irish annals also shed light on Viking history in Scotland and in the Hebrides and Man. The intimate connections between Norway and Ireland are also borne out by the evidence of archaeology. We shall in the following give a complete list of Irish metal-work relics found in Norwegian graves of the Viking period. Such objects appear in the graves in Norway quite early in the 9th century. One of the oldest of these finds is an extremely rare object, a bronze reliquary found in a grave at Melhus, in the parish of Overhalla, in the county of Nord-Trondelag; the grave, judging from the rest of its furniture, must date from the first couple of decades after 800 A. D. Another Irish reliquary from Norway, now belongs to the national Museum of Copenhagen." These exceedingly rare objects were beyond a doubt carried home as booty from the plunderings of Irish churches in the early Viking raids. This is also the case with another object equally rare, found in a grave at Aurland on the is unique, so that it cannot be fully determined, but the presumption is that it is a censer, or, may be, a hand-warmer of the kind commonly used diu-ing divine service at the time. It was found in a grave from the second half of the 9th century. In the same connection we would also mention the Stamnes ring, determined as a carr>'ing-ring for a large shrine

Sognefjord; this relic

'

havn

J. J.

A. Worsaac:

Nordiske oldsager

1859, p. 139, fig. 824.

i

del kongelige

Museum

i

Kjobenhavn, Kjoben-

C h

56

a

J)

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V

by only one specimen

It was found in a bulk The of Irish objects found in Norway, are in themselves not so very remarkable; they are mostly giltbronze mountings, originally made as adornments for book-cases, caskets, and in Norway always found detached from their natwal places and the like,

of a kind represented

in

Ireland.

grave at Stamnes in Bruvik, near Bergen.

—

altered into brooches

small delicate

—

,

harneiss-miounts,

bronze-mounted drinking-homs,

wooden buckets cased

in bronze with engraved ornamentation. be determined as specimens of Irish workmanship

Most of these objects may from the 8th and 9th centuries, some of them as somewhat older. They are excellent samples of Irish art which had been brought to great perfection in this period.

The great majority of known pieces

of such Irish metal-work,

have been found in Norwegian graves, most of them in Norway, but some in Viking graves in Ireland and Scotland too. In the Scandinavian North these Irish relics are practically found in Norway alone, thus serving as a palpable illustration of the intercourse of the coimtries during the 9lh century.^" Most of these Irish objects, be it remembered, were not articles of trade, properly speaking: they were neither articles for use nor valuable in the same way as bronze vessels, glasses, foreign weapons, silver, or coins. The decorated Irish bronzes that came to Norway, were anything but ordinary export commodities; they were objects varying pretty widely in age, many of them, besides, being made for ecclesiastical use, altogether objects that cannot have come into the possession of Norwegians otherwise than by violence and plundering. These pieces must above all have been cherished curiosities, personal keep-sakes, carried home from more or less prolonged sojourns in Ireland. These finds, then, show how extensive was the participation in the expeditions to Ireland, from all parts of Norway, which is indeed also supported by an old saying, preserved in Egill Skallagrimisson's saga < fare thou south to Dublin, that track is most renown©d.:>'^ The influx into Norway of Irish objects gives us also an impression of the relative share of the several provinces in the expeditions to Ireland.'- A very decisive majority of such objects have been found on the west-coast, in Rogaland and Fjordane, a certain number farther north, round the Trondheim

" From Sweden

piece is on record, viz. a bronze-cased pail from Birka, Fornvannen 1924, p. 142. From Finland liliewise we have one solitary piece, a gilt-'bronze personal ornament from Ristimaki in S. Karins, A.M. Tallgren ^' in Finskt Museum, Helsingfors 1915, p. 56, fig. 12. Far6u sidan sudr til Dyflinnar. Su er nu ferd frsegst. Dr. Jobs. Boe has rightly emphasized that the remark is formed as a verse, of a peculiar fixed character, like an adage. There is no objection to supposing it " See map in Jobs. Boe: to be transmitted by genuine tradition from the 9th century. An ornamented Celtic Bronze object found in a Norwegian grave, Bergens Museums Arbok 1924—25. Hist. Ant. rekke nr. 4.

described by T.

J.

only one

Arne

in

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57

and as far north as Lofoten. The southernmost tracts of on the other hand, are quite poor in Irish relics, while, on the other hand, Vestfold, on the Oslo fjord, has yielded a considerable number of them. Here was the sea-port of Skiringsal, the most important commercial mart in the 9th century. But Vestfold was at the same time a starting-place for Viking expeditions to Western Europe, as testified by French aimals re-

fjord, in Helgeland,

our

littoral,

cording the attack on Nantes in 843 by a host of Westf aiding] :>, i. e. men from Vestfold. It may be considered very probable that this Viking fleet had arrived by the route via Irish waters." I am at any rate inclined to interpret the

evidence afforded by archaeology as suggesting that men from Vestfold also took a share in the expeditions to Ireland, though chieftains from Rogaland

and Fjordane predominated

The

in these.

Norway have been found in graves dating from all the the 9th century, and some of them in graves from the 10th

Irish relics in

several periods of

They afford clear evidence of very extensive and continuous intercourse with the kingdom of Dublin throughout this space of time. The antiquities in this case shed a much clearer light on the relations between the Dublin kingdom and the Old Country than does recorded history. Emigrations to Ireland and reemigrations back to Norway must have taken place continually, and Irish affairs must have been well-known in Norway. Above all, this connection must of course have been kept up by the chieftains who bore

century.

Everything points to Olav the White's appearance on the scene in 853 having been an organised reinforcemient of the hard-pressed settlements in Ireland, just as Olav himself was recalled afterwards to support

rule in Dublin.

war in Norway. The dominion of Dublin was secured, and it is stated in the same connection, that Olav went away and that his brother Ivar succeeded him, exacting the same taxes. In fact Olav is not mentioned again as being in Ireland till the year 857, which makes it very probable that he was absent for some years, we do not know where, but presumably in Norway. The next time he is mentioned is in a fight with the Gall-Gaidil (or: foreign Irish), whose appearance forms a very curious episode in the 9th century. They are mentioned on a

his father in a

few occasions in the annals between the years 856 and 859, and never after that." In one passage these Gall-Gaidil are designated as < Irish (Scoiti), and "

Jobs. Boe,

come from the

earlier

1.

c, p. 31, says that on this occasion the Vikings are most likely to

Frisia through the Channel.

expeditions

to

We

the

Loire

But there is issued from

more evidence

Ireland

and

the

have

to indicate that

Isles,

as

already

shall revert to this question in our treatment of the expeditions

suggested above,

p. 18.

to France.

" See Marstrander: Bidrag

Professor Marstrander here discusses Scotland.

in fact

p.

8,

Island, pp. .5 tf. til det norske sprogs historie the relations of these Gall-Gaidil of Ireland to i

Marstrander rightly points out that the Gall-Gaidil of Scotland are not mentioned

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foster-sons of the Norse; sometimes they are simply called Norsemen.

In

another passage we are told that «they were men who had deserted their faith. They vere usually called Norse, for they had the habits of life of the Norse and had been brought up by them."

Of the same stock, probably,

were those sons of Death from Luigni and Galling who pillaged after the manner of the heathen in 847. We would also recall an episode from Chester besieged by a Viking army led by Ingemund of Dublin in 902. It is reported that on this occasion the Norse brought with them miany an Irish foster-son», whom the Anglo-Saxons of Chester tried to

tempt

The

to desertion.

Gall-Gaidll were the allies of Maelsechlainn in his attack on the Norse In the

in 856.

same year Aedh, the son

of Niall, gained a great victory over

the Gall-Gaidil in Glennelly (in the interior of Ulster). Gall-Gaidil

down

with their chieftain Ketil the White

The year

(Caitill-Finn)"=

after the

were

cut

Munster by the kings of the strangers, Olav and Ivar. Again, in the year after, Kimg Cearbhall of Ossory, allied with Ivar, defeated the GallGaidil in Ara Tire (Munster), and finally, in 858, King Maelsechlainn led an expedition against the Gall-Gaidil of Munister. The foreign Irish > must accordingly have been a force of no small military importance during these years, since they are repeatedly mentioned as fighting against Irish and Norwegian kings. They had a Norwegian chieftain, Ketil the White, but another bearing an Irish name, Genel Fiachach. The Gall-Gaidil were apparently people of mixed Norse and Irish race, the bulk of them Irish that had adopted Norwegian religion and habits after the first generation of Norse invasion in Ireland. Their political impoiiance was soon past; but still they are a factor of prominent interest to the history of Norwegian colonisation in Ireland. The Gall-Gaidil were disposed of, but peace did not ensue. The twenty years from about 850 to about 870 were in Ireland a troubled time of armed dissensions. The annals are full of plunderings and retributions, of wars between Norwegians and Irish, and between the Irish themselves. It is indeed recorded that Maelsechlain had invited Olav the \Vhite to a peacein

It is till a century and a half after those of Ireland, i. e at the end of the 9th century. accordingly very unlikely that the Irish Gall-Gaidil should have come from Scotland. In spite of the same name being applied to both groups, there cannot, assuredly, have been

any connection between them. as

the

name

of

—

the border-land

In Orkneyinga saga the word Gaddgedlar is employed between England and Scotland, and its inhabitants are

a direct translation of Gall-Gaidill. Marstrander 1. c. Marstrander thinks that both these passages were added as marginal notes in the '" We see annals, but their contents should not on that account be entirely rejected. VikinBugge: Alexander no reason for identifying Ketil the White with Ketil Flatnev. See called «vikinga-eeotar ^^

gerne

I,

p. 157.

,

Chapter

V

59

meeting where Olav gave many promises; but immediately after that the war was onoe more in full swing. Three princes were at the time the leaders of Irish politics. Maelsechlainn (846 863), king of Tara, the high-king of Ireland, ri Erin a politician of superior ability, working consistently towards the union of all Irish forces, in order to drive the Norse out of the country. He found a doubtful ally in Aedh Finnliath, who aimed at securing the supreme position for himself, and sought the support of the Norwegians. He married his daughter to Olav the White, and joined him in several expeditions against Maelsechlainn, who was then assisted by Cearbhall, the king of Ossory in Southern Ireland. He is known by the name of Kjarvall in Norse sagas, where he is incorrectly taken to be king of all Ireland, of course because of his playing such an important part in later Icelandic pedigrees. He had three daughters married to Norwegian chieftains, and fought as the ally of the Norse against Gall-Gaidil, afterwards on the side Maelsechlainn against the Norse, and then again as their ally against King Aedh. These everchanging alliances are the most significant feature of this time of confusion in Ireland. Flann Conang's son, king of Cianachta, was the son of Aedh's sister, but fought in alliance with all the contending parties in turn, to be

—

,

killed at last in the battle of

Drogheda as the

maternal uncle. King Aedh.

ally of the Norse, against his

The Leinster men

joined the Norwegians to

ravage Ossory, but Cearbhall, in return, sought the support of the Norwegians in order to take revenge. Aedh attained the object of his ambition becoming high-king of Ireland (863 879), and then devoted all his energy to the

—

He sacked their fortresses and carried off and in 866 he gained a signal victory over the Norwegians on Loch Foyle on the North coast (in Londonderry). His ally was Cennedigh, king of Leix, calleid the bravest, the most victorious of all the champions of Erin against the strangers. He defeated the men of the King of Lochlann in Munster, burnt Dun-Amblaeibh (Olav's castle) at Clondalkin near Dublin (867). Irish annals contain vivid descriptions of Norse defeats during these years, as for instancee, from a battle at Waterford in 866:
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and wounded, leaving behind them much gold and silver and beautiful women.» The Irish writings dwell exclusively on Norwegian defeats, but at the same time they testify clearly enough that these years were filled with fightings, the Norwegian dominion in Dublin being the subject of dispute. More casually we find mentioned encounters at Cork, Waterford, Limerick, in which were engaged chieftains from Dublin too. It was during these years that Olav the White with his brothers Ivar and Auisl consolidated a lasting kingdom in Dublin, opposed to the high-king of Ireland. Olav was in fact in such a strong position that

— with

Dublin as his starting-point

—

he took energetic steps

towards making conquests in Scotland. Olav's first expedition to Scotland in 866 was coincident with the great Danish invasion into Northumberland, and evidently carried out in alliance with Norwegian chieftains in the Hebrides as well as with the Orkney earl. He took hostages as security for the tax he had imposed, during two years he made victorious visits to Scotland, and after a defeat suffered on his third expedition he returned in great force, conquered the capital of the Britons, Dumbarton on the Clyde, and sailed back to Dublin with captive Britons, Saxons, and Scots. Here we have in one short item of information, a clear picture of the Dublin king's sphere of interest

Western Great Britain, Olav the White interfering in British Strathclyde, Anglo-Saxon Northumberland, and in Celtic Scotland. The operations are directed at a well-defined area, centring round the North Channel (St. The Norwegian aspirations were no longer confined to Patrick's Channel). the Isles and the western coast of Scotland as far south as Galloway; the settlement had now been extended south of the Solway, into Cumberland and Westmoreland, as we shall see later on. The expeditions of Olav the White, then, must have aimed at uniting and securing the Norse interests in Scotland and England, while at the same time he maintained his position in Ireland. After returning from the last of these expeditions, he marched northwards from Dublin in the very same year, destroyed the castle of Dunseverick in Antrim, and made himself master of Ulster. These were his last exploits in Ireland. Later on, in the same year, he went to Norway, never to return. It is recorded in the earliest fragments of Irish annals from the year 871 that Olav went from Erin to Lochlann to assist his father Gudrod, who had come over to Erin to get assistance from his son against the Lochlanns, who had begun war against Gudrod. The annalist adds that he knew more about these affairs in Norway, \)uX was unwilling to fatigue his readers with matters

in

in

that did not concern Ireland.

This piece of information, however, suffices to

corroborate our inference about the connection between the homeland and the

kingdom

in Dublin.

King Olav had come

to Ireland with an order

from

Ch his father for taxes

and imposts

to

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V

be paid, and

61 his father twenty years later,

Norway of armed forces from There evidently were firm and lasting connections between the Norwegian head of the family and his son's dominion in the West, even though, to our regret, the Irish aimalist did not record his knowledge of the events of Norwegian history connected with Olav's departure from Ireland. Olav is not mentioned afterwards in Irish sources. There can be no doubt that he never returned to the lands in the West." In spite of somewhat obscure sources the twenty years' reign of Olav the White leaves the impression of an earnest effort to organise a Norwegian dominion of no small extent over parts of Ireland, Scotland, and the west coast of Northern England. As for Scotland and England, the place-names too go to prove that an extensive Norwegian colonisation was going on there at the same time. Also, the Norse occupation of the Isle of Man took place during this period. And, this being the case, the colonisation must surely have been the chief object of the invasion of Ireland as well. In Ireland the place-name material fails us as an historical source; for most Norwegian namies that may possibly have existed, have necessarily disappeared later, the two languages being so widely different that Norwegian place-names could not be adopted into Irish speech to anything like the extent to which they were accepted in English. But Ireland too received at all events a very considerable Norwegian immigration from about the middle of the 9th century, and the Norwegian elements in the coimtry had attained a powerful position that was to hold good for three centuries. The Norse kingdom in Dublin is the more interesting for having been the earliest Scandinavian Viking state recorded in the history of Western Europe. was

in a position to call for the assistance in

Ireland.

'"

Gustav Storm has combined Olav's going home to assist his fither in Norway with The Norwegian source is as we know, Hornklove's Haraldskvede> (or Song of Harald ) which treats of «Luva> (Harald Fairhair) fighting against two kings, «K]'0tve> and «Haklang:>. The victory was achieved when Haklang fell, and Kjotve fled. All the three kings are mentioned only by their nick-names, and «;Haklang> on Storm's supposition would mean Olav the White. According to the traditional chronology, referring the battle of Hafrsfjord to the year 87'2, Storm's combination would be strikingly probable. But as we have seen above, there are strong reasons for changing the chronology of Harald Fairhair's reign, referring it to a period about 30 years later; and on this theory we shall be compelled to give up any combination of Olav the White and Hafrsfjord. Snorre it should be remembered loo fills out the name as Tore Haklang. the battle of Hafrsfjord.

—

—

—

—

CHAPTER THE KINGS OF IVAR'S

VI.

IRELAND. RACE DOWN TO THE BATTLE OF

CLONTARF,

1014 A. D. After the departure of Olav the White, his brother, Ivar, assumed royal power in Dublin, becoming tliereby the progenitor of its line of Norwegian kings during the next hundred years. ^

At his death, he is called by the Ulster Northmen of all Ireland aed Britain, Ivar rex nordmannorum totius Hibemiae et Britaimiae.» Ivar, then, was probably the eldest of the family, and assumed the leadership according to Irish usage and order of succession generally followed afterwards by the Dublin Kings. One of the sons of Olav the White, Carlus, was killed in a battle at Drogheda in 868; his name may possibly suggest that he had been in France, and perhaps had been baptised there at the conclusion of a peace with Charles the Bald, taking the king as his god-father. Another son of Olav's took part in an expedition in 869, but his name is not mentioned. It may probably have been

annals, king over the

Red who afterwards continued his father's conquests in Scotkilled in 875, whereupon his family removed to Iceland. As for Olav's brotheirs, Auisl fell in a fight among the brothers themselves and is said to have been slain by Olav's own hand. Another brother Sigtrygg, has already been mentioned in passing; we hear no more of him.

Torstein the land,

^

where he was

Our

earliest

and best source, the three fragments

Ivar were brothers, and there

of Irish annals, states that

Olav and

no reason for rejecting this positive information in order This combinato identify Ivar of Dublin with Ivar the Boneless, son of Ragnar Lodbrok. tion was proposed for the first time by dr. Todd in his edition of The War of the Gaedhil with the Gail-, but confuted by Gustav Storm and Steenstrup, see Storm: Kritiske bidrag is

I, Kristiania 1878, p. 70, and Steenstrup: Normannerne, II, KjoThese two scholars, both so critical, were lor cnce in agreement on this point. But the same theory has been taken up later, by Allan Mawer (The Saga-book of the Viking Club, VI, p. 80), and recentliy by T. D. Kendrick: A History of the Vikings, London 1930, p. 279. By force of reiteration it bids fair to become a recognised fact that our Ivar was one of the famous sons of Lodbrok. As a matter of fact, this is nothing but baseless conjectures unsupported by any source, and in itself quite improbable, if we look at it from the standpoint of general contemporary history.

til

Vikingetidens Historie,

benhavn

1878, p. 121.

C

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63

I

The Dublin dynasty, then, descends from Ivar, and his name was already used by his contemporaries to designate the whole family. In the time immediately succeeding this, we repeatedly encounter chieftains named in the annals as Ivar's son, Ivar's grandson, a descendant of Ivar's, &c, even through several generations later.

The famous nams

the distinguishing badge of the whole family. is

ol the progenitor

was used

And, indeed, the name

as

of Ivar

continually mentioned in the wars and battles in Ireland at the time of

he took part in his brother's last great expedition to went home to Norway, Ivar became king in Dublin, but only for a short space; for he died in 874, according to the Ulster annals, from an ugly and sudden disease, csic enim Deo placuit». The annals state that he died a Christian. That may well be, for baptism was no uncommon thing among the Vikings of Western Europe. There were several Christians among the first settlers in Iceland, who belonged to the same circle of emigrants. Yet the Christianity of Ivar is an individual case. Another century and a half was to pass away before Norwegian Dublin was officially christianised. Ivar was succeeded by his sons Sigfred and Sigtrygg under the regency of Earl Bard (Baridh or Baraid), who has been mentioned above as taking part in an expedition from Dublin in 869 with Olav's son. In 875 he was defeated in a battle against the Irish, in 877 he gained a victory over a Danish army led by Halvdan (Alban), son of Ragnar. This Halvdan is undoubtedly identical with Ragnar Lodbrok's son of this name, king of York after the conquest of Northumbria (875), but shortly after expelled from the country. He must then have turned to Ireland, where he escaped from King Aedh's attempt at killing him during a banquet; but he fell in the battle against Bard on Strangford Lough. This episode is exceedingly interesting when seen in its connection with the energetic attempts made by the Ivar family to conquer Northumbria, during the subsequent time. It is very probable that Dublin, with its interests in Westmoreland and Cumberland, may have had its share in the expulsion of Halvdan from York, and that he sought his revenge by attacking Ireland. This incident Is at all events the first hint of the future relation between the Viking kingdoms of Ireland and Northumbria. Earl Bard was a great warrior tirannus magnus nordmannorum as he is called in the Ulster aimals. He fell fighting at Dublin Olav the White, Scotland.

amid

When Olav

,

in 880.

After the account of the attack on Ireland

made by Halvdan, Lodbrok's

son,

the annals have a somewhat surprising remark stating that now began a 40 years' period of peace in the country in contrast to the preceding and following

periods of unrest and trouble.

This, then, must have been the impression contemporary writers, and, indeed, an impression that contained some truth; for Ireland was for a time spared the attacks of fresh invaders. But of the

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crowded with reports of internal feuds between Irish and This was apparently not regarded as a state of unrest properly speaking; it was the normal state of things. As Earl Bard had been killed in battle, fresh expeditions ensued. In 883 the Norwegians were in Kildare, carrying off great numbers of captives to their ships. In 885 the king- of Ulster was led captive by Earl Ottar, and in 887 the high-king of Ireland, Flann SLnna (877—915), suffered a heavy defeait. Finally, in 888, we hear that Ivar's sons, of Dublin, kept an immense royal fleet on the sea, ravaging the greater part of Erin; Aedh, king of Connaught, the bishop of Kildare, and many others were killed. Lismore was set on fire by Ivar's son, and Donchad, king of Cashel, was killed. The continuation of the war is miarked by the devastation of a number of Irish provinces and by ever-oontinuing calamities. In 890 Armagh was again sacked by Gluniaran, who carried off hundreds of captives. Not till the year after do the annals record an Irish victory over the Norwegians of Waterford, Wexford, and Timolin (in Carlow). From all the scattered events we receive a general impression of a Norwegian offensive lasting for several years, and it is most surprising that the Irish should be unable to boast more than one victory, and that one of minor importance. The Norwegians must have had decidedly the upper hand during these years. The King of Dublin, young Sigtryggg, was a great warrior and sole king In the middle of the war, in 888, after his brother Sigfred- had been killed. the aimals are

Norse, or

still

among

the Irish themselves.

the Ulster annals contain the laconic statement that Sigfred, Ivar's son, the

king of the Norwegians, was treacherously killed by his brother.^ fratricide in the second generation of the family.

tained

fact,

This

is

the

a fully ascer-

we know

he might now devote himself

-

is

nothing whatever of why and how it came about. We had increased his power in Ireland in such a degree Sigtrygg

but

only see that that

The event

Another brother, Olav, Ivar"s

to greater schemes.

son, fell in 895, fiojhtin!T against the

men

Louth and

of

son of Gluniaran, fell too, and with him 800 men. " It would be a Sicfrifh mac Imair rex Norniannorum a fratre suo per dolum occisu-s est. tempting combination to identify this Sigfred with his namesake, the king who led the Viking army besieging Paris in the winter of 885—886. He had conducted operations in Ulidia.

In

that

battle,

Glunfrada,

Northern France during the years immediately preceding this siege; in 882 he joined hands with king Godfred in Frisia, exacting a tribute in payment for going away. He The left France in 887, the year before Sigfred of Dublin was killed by his brother. fratricide would be accounted for in a very natural way, on the supposition that it was this Sigfred, who returned home, rich in goods of plunder and «danegeld», claiming his share in the Dublin kingdom. Unfortunately we have only the mere fact mentioned without any explanation. Here, as in so many other eases, the annals give us the impression

—

of

being only a meagre

great events that are

list

now

of clues, as

it

long forgotten.

were, recorded

to

assist

memory

in

retaining

C h In 892 Sigtrygg invaded

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65

I

England with a large army.

The Ulster annals

report that the Northmen in England had suffered a serious defeat. And Sigtrygg then sailed across the channel with a large number of the Norwegians of Erin.

This

is

evidently

connected with lomg-continued

fights

for

the

North of England, to which fights we shall revert below. But is required even here, for the better understanding of the interests of the Ivar family in Northumbria. It may be seen that Norwegians had reached the West coast of England

dominion

in the

a short orientation

an early date, and that the Norwegians possessed extensive settlements there as early as the 91h century. We have already seen that these tracts werei part of the the greater part of them belonging to Briton Stratholyde area over which Olav the White extended his sway from Dublin. On the east side the Norwegiajis encountered the Danish Viking kingdom, founded by the conquest of York in 866 and consolidated ten years after under Halvdan, the son of Raignar Lodbrok. We have the impression that there had been at first an agreement between the Danes conquering Northumbria and Olav the White making his expedition to the west coast. But divergences must soon have made themselves felt in the border tracts between Norwegian and Danish at

—

—

The Norwegian settlement made rapid progress in the interior of Cumberland, in the Lake District, and the action of the Dublin King may intereets.

have contributed to the expulsion of Halvdan, followed by his retributive Halvdan was succeeded by Gudred, said to be a brother attack on Ireland. He was a Christian, and kept of the Danish king Gorm in East-Anglia. up friendly relations with King Alfred. But it is obvious that the Ivar family had very direct interests in the affairs of Northern England, and might feel called upon to interfere. We do not know what the annals mean by the allusion to the defeat of the Northmen in England as occasioning Sigtrj'gg's expedition from Dublin. No Anglo-Saxon advance against Northumbria was made during these years. On the other hand, we meet a certain Earl Sigfred who caused some trouble, and who became King Gudred's successor a few years later. Nor miay it have been mere coincidence that Sigtrygg went to Northumbria the very year in which Wessex was exposed to a furious attack from the Viking army from France, led by Hasting, who was supported from the north by Earl Sigfred commanding a fleet of 140 ships. During these events the Dublin army was employed to consolidate the possessions of the Ivar family in Northern England. A contemporary English source mentions, too, that Northumbria had a very troubled time. We know no details, we only see the issue, namely Sigfred becoming master of Northumbria on the death of Gudred in 894. There is reason to believe that Sigfred was in close alliance with Dublin, being most probably one of the dynasty himself. 5

—

Viking Antiquities.

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same time, in 894. But he was not achievements on the expedition to England; the aimals, in the very next year, state that he was murdered by his own; On as on so many others we are without any information as this occasion The murder has been supposed to be an act of to the real trend of events. blood-feud avenging his brother Sigfred whom Sigtrygg himself had killed; this is just a possibility, nothing more. Irish annals speak of dissensionvs among the Norse of Dublin. The following chieftains are mentioned: Gluniaran (the Irish form of the surname Jamkne or Jargna) who sacked Armagh in 896; his son, Glunhadna, who fell find Sigtrygg back in Dublin at the

to enjoy for long the fruits of his

.

—

—

defeated in a battle in Munster, with Olav, son of Ivar. Furtlier, Norse military expeditions are mentioned as taking place during the closing years of

Armagh was again sacked, and in 900 Kildare was once more visited by the heathens. But the position of the Norse in Dublin was evidently weakened after the expedition to England, possibly, too, by the support given to the possessions in Northumbria. To this must be the century: in the year 898

added the effects of the emigration to Iceland, absorbing not a little of the. Norse forces in Ireland towards the close of the 9th century.^ Simultaneously a great Irish association was at length formed, for the purpose of breaking the Norse dominion in the country. A holy man, Cele Dubhaill, preached with fervour war against the heathens, and in 901 the attack was made. About the events of this year the Ulster annals state laconically the expulsion from Ireland of the heathen that is to say that the castle of Dublin was attacked in such a way by Maelfinna, son of Flannagan, with the warriors of Bregia, and by Cearbhall, son of Murchad, with the warriors of Leinster, that the enemy had to leave behind many ships, fleeing half dead, wounded and scattered. It was beyond a doubt a decisive defeat of the Dublin Norwegians. In the flight some of them were rounded up on a little island off Howth, ,

outside Dublin.

Some

by Ingemund (Hingamund) retreated a harbour in the Isle of Man, and were

others, led

Anglesey and Wales, went on

to

to at

length settled in Wirral, North of Chester.

The bulk

To

of the Dublin forces

Scotland, at all events,

came

went Ivar,

to Scotland, as far as

grandson of

can be gathered.

Ivar, in 904, with a large

Pointed out by Steenstrup as one of t)he factors contributing lo the catastrophe in Norniannerne II, pp.148 149. The Landnamabok mentions a number of land-takers coming from Ireland, viz. Helge Magre, whose mother was the daughter of King Cearbhall, Aud the Deepminded, the Widow of Olav the White; Ketil Guva; Thormod the Old and All the same, it is Ketil, both sons of Brese; Hjorleiv, Asulv, An, Raudfell, and others. difficult to believe that the emigration to Iceland, was extensive enough to affect the strength of the Norse in Ireland. The operations in England must have taxed the armed power of Dublin much more. *

901.

—

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plundering Dunkeld near Perth, and other

fleet consisting of three divisions,

The Pictish king, Aedh, fell in a battle against the Vikings, who were however defeated at Stratherne the year after, Ivar losing his life there. Ho was, without any doubt, one of the Ivar family of Dublin, attempting, as we tracts.

see, to gain land in Scotland during the years

immediately succeeding the During this time, however, the royal family evidently had its principal seat in Northumbria imtil Dublin was recovered. The dynasty and the army had been driven out of Ireland, and it is difficult to form any idea as to how far the settled Norse population was still suffered to remain in the coun'try. King Cearbhall was master of Dublin till his death in 909. A still extant Irish elegy, written on his death, poetically represents the harbour and the ships as the king's mourning widow, which shows that Dublin was still, under an Irish master, a sea-port and a commercial town; and from this we may conclude that the town had in all probability kept a great number of its Norse inhabitants. Now, the Irish themselves were only to a small extent townspeople, they had little to do with commerce and the sea. The vast majority of those who busied themselves with commerce and shipping-trade to and from Irish ports, were Norwegian emigrants. This applies to Dublin as well as to the other sea-ports, Cork, Limerick, Waterford. But we have no positive information about the state of things after the fall of Dublin, and still less do we know anything about the settlements in rural districts. However, the Norse had been a power in the land for two generaloss of Dublin.

tions,

and

it is

difficult to believe that they

should not, in considerable num-

have acquired land. An Irish writing from the 9th century complains bitterly of the hunger and thirst of the strangers for the green land of Erin, and later on we meet with Irish clans that regarded themselves as descending from Norse ancestors in spite of their having given up the Norse language as well as Norse habits of Life.' The Irish language, moreover, has from bers,

those old times

downward kept many

traces of the long-continued intermixture

of the two nations.

These various facts suggest that in Ireland about 900 A. D. there must have been a resident Norwegian population that could not be driven out at one blow, through the conquest of the king's stronghold. This, too, makes it much easier to understand the re-conquest of Dublin after the lapse

of fifteen years.

—

—

Temporarily for fifteen years Ireland was rid of the Norwegian menace, enjoying a peace that it had not known for a century back. We have no direct information about the history of the Ivar family during this inter\'al; ^

In the battle of Confey in 916 a king of Fenechlais (in Arklow)

The name Fenechlais

is

derived from

Feni Kcclesiae\

—

must have been Christian Norsemen the Irish side against king Sigtrygg on It

i.

e.

the

fell

on the Irish side.

Norsemen

permanently settled in Ireland this occasion. See above.

—

of

the church.

who

fought on

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had its principal seat in the North of England. We have already mentioned Earl Sigfred, who acted in connection with Sigtrygg's expedition in 892, becoming lord of Northumbria on Gudrod's death in 894. It must be suppoised that he was closely allied to the Ivar family (being possibly one of the family), and that the Norwegians became masters of the country at that time. A considerable and extensive Norse settlemenft in Northumbria, traceable in the place-names, probably dates from this period. The Irish must evidently have foimd that this situation offered them an excellent opportunity of pursuing their Norwegian enemy on English soil. For in 912 a luiique event took place, viz. the despatch of an Irish fleet to Eastern England, in support of the Anglo-Saxons against the Norse. The expedition failed, < because the company was killed», as stated, very briefly, in the Ulster annals. But it was this unsuccessful Irish attack that became the signal of the new Norse invasion of Ireland. The year after, in 913, enormous fleets manned with strangers sailed into Waterford, an excellent harbour and one of the strongholds of the Vikings from of old. A descent on this place might probably find support, too, from' a resident Norwegian population on the fjord and on the banks of the river in the province of Gall-tir (now: Gaultier), which signifies < the land of the strang©r». The operations, then, biegan here by the plimdering of the province of Ossory. In 914 the Norse conquered Cork, Lismore, and Achadbo. In 915 they ravaged Leinster and Munster, and finally, in 916, the decisive attack was launched on Dublin. According to the account given of the campaign, Sigtrygg, a descendant of Ivar's advanced from the south trough Ossory, and Ragnvald, also a descendant of Ivar's, joined him from M^aterford. As we shall see, this Ragnvald was in all probability identical with King Ragnvald of York. But at last the Irish joined their forces too. The kings of Leinster and Munster united under the leadership of the high-king of Ireland, Niall (son of Aedh), who opened the campaign. A series of Sianguinary, but indecisive fights are described. Sigtrygg had fortified an important position at Cenfuat (now: Confey, in Ossory), from which he was miaster of the situation. The Leinster men advanced to attack the lines of the Norse, but suffered a terrible defeat. The king of Leinster fell, and with him many sub-kings, most of them from Kildare, Kilkenny, and Leix. On the battle-field lay the boidy of the archbishop of Armagh, who must thus have fought in person in this battle. The defeat of the Irish was crushing, and so they felt it too. Rarely had Ireland offered such a united front to the foreigners, and probably never before had the object of the fight been so clearly and consciously conceived as now after the Norse masters had once been driven away from Dublin. The battle of Confey, therefore, has impressed itself with particular intensity on but

infer that the family

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Immediately after the battle the annals marched against Dublin was taken by violence (i. e. Dublin) (The Ulster annals), and cAith Cliath from the meox of Erin». This was in 916.

the Irish

mind as

a national calamity.

contain the brief statemient, that Sigtrygg, Ivar's son,

But the Irish could not rest after the first shock. The clergy set a-foot agitation, a confederacy was formed, and three yeairs after the furious a The high-king of Ireland, Niall Glundubh, was once attack was launched. more at the head of it, allied with a number of other princes. The decisive

was fought September 919.

battle of

at

Climashoigue immediately south of Dublin on the 15th on record that Niall took the sacrament immediately

It is

before the battle, and that priests fought in the foremost lime. But complete victory fell to the Norse. Among the killed were Niall himself with his son and heir, 12 other kings, and many chieftains. Niall's widow, Gormlaith, has in a verse left us, given us the name of his slayer Olav, a Norwegian like the Ulv who killed her first husband, King Cearbhall of Leinster. The Irish succeeded in exacting some retribution by an expedition of revenge undertaken in the following year by Niall's son, Donchad, who gained a victory north of Dublin. It is described in glowing colours, how the number of Norwegian

number of Irish killed at ClimaYet the battle must decidedly have been of minor importance, since The Norse remained masters of Dublin, it had no historical consequences. expeditions to the North and West of the fresh make and still strong enough to country. At no time, after this, was there any question of the Irish ever being able to drive out the masters of Dublin. Then, too, the Norse had a powerful leader, Sigtrygg Gale, his surname being Irish sources state that he was probably a Celtic word meaning hero, warrior

chieftains killed in this battle equalled the

shogue.

.

a cruel ruler, and it is easy to believe that he had a very sti-ong position after his victories in 916 and 919. Yet the Ulster annals declare that he was immediately after expelled from Dublin by the might of God.-^ We know nothing of how this happened, we only know that Sigtrygg did Indeed leave Dublin. In 920 he conquered the sea-port of Devonport in Cheshire, and shortly after that he is seen to have taken up his residence in Northumbria, where he was called Jarl> (earl), on the coins: Sictric comes, as his kinsman Ragn;

vald was

still

reigning as king.

On Ragnvald's death

in

921 Sigtrygg became

king of Northumbria, and in 925 he concluded a peace with King Athelstan, whose sister he married; but he died in the following year (926), as confirmed by the Irish annals. His successor in Dublin during this time was his brother Gudrod, who on the death of Sigtrygg tried to succeed him as king in Northumbria too, in vain, it is true, as will be shown more fully

—

These facts also shed some light on Sigtrygg's supposed expulsions from Dublin in 920. The expression is assuredly to be accounted for by a

below.

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misinterpretation on the part of the Irish author.

Sigtrygg had, in fact, to return to Nortluimberland in order to maintain the hereditary claims of his family on that kingdom on the death of Ragnvald, while at the same time his

brother Gudrod was

left to

hold the possesisions in Ireland.

We

find Sig-

and after him his son, fighting for years to vindicate the succession to the Northumbrian kingdom. The Irish anixals are still filled with ever-lasting wars and troubles, feuds against the Norse, certainly, but much oftener internal feuds between Irish kings. In 921 Gudrod sacked Armagh on St. Martin's day, sparing, however, the oratories, hospitals, and churches, so that only a few of those were burnt down through carelessness. In 925 the Leinster king and his son were captured by the men of Dublin; in the following year the Norwegians suffered two defeats, with a considerable number of killed. Their antagonist in these fights was the famous Muircheartach, who has become one of the most prominent national heroes of later Irish tradition. Muircheartach, Niall's son, was king of Elagh. His name is repeated year after year, and always associated with great achievements. He had beaten Gudrod during the expedition to Ulster in 921; in 926 he had killed a great number of chieftains and warriors, among whom was Halvdan, Gudrod's son; in 932 he had slain Earl Thoralv on Lough Neagh, and in 933 he had again beaten Gudrod. In 938 he laid siege to Dublin, in alliance with Donchad, also plundering the neighbourhood; but in the following year he was captured himself and carried off to the Norwegian ships in Lough Swilly. He escaped shortly after, and in 941 he made a royal expedition to the Hebrides, returning with much plunder. This is one of the very rare instances of the Irish attacking the Norwegians outside Ireland. Muircheartach was heir presumptive to the position of high-king of Ireland, and so wished to shine by great exploits. He had an ancient right to receive He tribute from Ulster, which might serve him as a reason for invasion. ravaged Meath and Bregia, Ossory, and Desies, compelling them to submit. Then, when Desies was attacked by King Callaghan of Cashel (941), he got into a violent rage, and determined on a campaign all round the country. This is Muircheartach's famous winter campaign through Ireland, sung in a contemporary poem by Cormacan who was himself of the party. The king with 1000 picked warriors, the leather-cloaks so-called, visited every place and every province throughout Ireland, taking tribute and hostages everywhere. Thus they went to Dublin, where it is reported that the beautiful queen gave trygg's brother too,

,

>

them ham, fine good wheat, meat, and fine cheese, and also a dyed cloak to each of the chieftains." They carried off as a hostage Sigtrygg the Rich, who *

of

(or, possibly, his grand-daughter) was married to Olav, son Dublin (934—940), an alliance that influenced later political history.

Muircheartach's dausfhter

Gudrod

of

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was guarded by the skald Cormacan, but not fettered, nor bound. We know nothing else about this Sigtrygg; judging from his name, he may have been one of the royal family. With enormous booty and with five kings among his hostages, Muircheartach returned to the high-king of Ireland, Donchad,

who greeted him

with the wish that he might one day succeed to the throne This wish, however, was not to be fulfilled. Muircheartach fell in a battle at Ardu, fighting Blakk, Gudrod's son, on the 26th of February 943.

of Tara.

On

the following day the Norwegians again sacked Armagh. Gudrod, the son of Ivar of Dublin, had fallen in 934, and had been succeeded by his sons, Olav and Blakk. They mow renewed the claims on Northumberland, which had remained in abeyance after Gudrod's unsuccessful campaign in 927, in alliance with Gudrod and Olav Cuaran, both sons of Sigtrygg Gale. Olav Cuaran was married to a daughter of Constantine, King of the Scots, and had settled in his country. He now came from the North with a fleet of 625 ships, and Olav of Dublin joined him with a Norwegian levy from Ireland. The expedition resulted in the famous Norwegian defeat at Brunanburh in 937. But at the time of the death ol ^thelstan (940) the two cousins named Olav were once more in England, and this time the country was really ceded to them by King Eadmund. Olav, son of Gudrod, died that same year, but Olav Cuaran reigned as king of Northumbria from 941 to 944 and from 949 to 952. We shall revert on a later occasion to this complicated episode in English history. Only, these facts had to be mentioned here, because the fight for the throne of Northumbria must as a matter of course have taxed somewhat heavily the force of the Norse dominion in Ireland. In Ireland Blakk held the reins of government in Dublin, fighting the Irish. His great achievement was his slaying Muircheartach in 943; five years later he himsielf was killed in a battle outside Dublin. But in conjunction with Blakk at that time are also mentioned his cousins, the sons of Sigtrygg, Gudrod and Olav Cuaran; they appear as often as Blakk himself as leaders of the Norse in Ireland. On the death af Gudrod killed on an expedition to Munster shortly after 950" Olav Cuaran was the natural successor as sole king of Dublin. This also explains how it was that he abandoned Northumbria

—

—

shortly after, needing

no doubt

all

his forces for the defence of his Irish

kingdom. Probably, too, Olav Cuaran is the Dublin king that maide the deepest impression on his contemporaries and on posterity. His life was filled with varying campaigns in England and Ireland. He supported Congalach in his fight for the position as high-king of Ireland, slaying his competitor

Ruadhri

' As late as 950 Gudrod, son of Sigtrygg, was on a military expedition into Meath, where he carried off more than 8000 captives, gold, silver, and all kinds of goods.

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72

VI

(948), but afterwards slaying Congalach

too<, in a battle on the bank of the This did not preivent Dublin him from afterwards forming an Liffey, near (954). alliance with Congalach's son, fighting by his side against the high-king. In 977 he killed both the heirs to the throne of Tara. Olav Cuaran must have been bom inj Northumbria about 910. His mother is unknown. Later on he probably lived in Dublin with his father Sigtrygg Gale (916 919), going back with him when he returned to England. After the death of his father he must have stayed in Ireland and Scotland. Then follows his long fight for the throne of York and finally his thirty years' reign ais king of Dublin. He had been baptised in 943 when he made peace with king Eadmund.

—

This

the period of Irish history that

is

historical

work of a somewhat

is

later date, viz.

so vividly described in an Irish

«The war of the Gaedhill with

King Brian's fight with the Norwegians. Here it is said that 'the king took hostages and bail from all men, both Irish and strangers. He appoiinted kings and chieftains, bailiffs and stewards in every district, and in every principality, and he exacted royal tribute. There was, indeed, such opression that there was a Norseman as king the Gain,

which

is

really an account of

district, as chieftain of every clan, as abbot over every church, as over every town, and as warrior in every house, so that no one of Erin's men had the right to give away barely the milk drawn from his cow or eggs laid by his hen to an old man or a friend, but had to keep it all for the bailiff

over every

bailiff

or the warrior.

—

The Irish paid an ounze of silver as poll-tax, and to this was added an annual tribute to the king; he who was unable to pay, sank into a serf.: The description is no doubt strongly coloured for the greater glory of King Brian, who broke the power of the Norse. But for all that, it must be based on a certain sta^te of things prevailing under Gudrod and Olav Cuaran. We retain the impression of heavy burdens having been imposed on the people to pro-

cure provisions for warriors and taxes for the king.

The Dublin kings beyond a doubt represented

the leading

power among

Norse in Ireland. But Norse chieftains had established themselves elsewhere in the country as well, operating more or less independently, alternately friends and enemies of the Dublin state. In northern Ireland we encounter Norwegian settlements on the West coast, on Strong Lough, on Carlingford Lough, and on Lough Eren towards the north-west. There were several fights in these tracts from about 920 to about 930, the Norwegians acting here under the leadership of their own chieftains, earls, but always in alliance with the Dublin king. In the south of Ireland Norwegians are mentioned at Wexford in 930, under Earl Accolb, and again five years later. Norwegians from Waterford are encoimtered several times on armed expeditions

the

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Limerick was, next to Dublin, the mOiSt powerful Viking town in Some years after the recapture of Dublin, probably in 922,' a mighty fleet under Thorir, son of Helge (Tomrair Elgi's son) arrived in the harbour of Limierick, from where the Vikings proceeded to the ravagThey fortified their position in Limerick, undertaking ing of Munster. in the following years extensive expeditions into the country along the Shannon to the central parts of the country round Clonmacnais and Lough Ree. The expeditions extended as far as Western Meath in the neighbourhood of Dublin. The expedition to Limerick was in all proibability caused by the successful issue of the Dublin campaign a few years earlier, but was evidently an independent undertaking; and very soon after there was an open breach between the two powers. Gudrod of Dublin must have considered the Viking advance from the south a menace to his own interests as early as 924 he raised a large army to fight Limerick, but was defeated by Helge's son. During these years fighting was going on between the Waterford and the Limerick Norse too, and Gudrod was once more in the field in 931. At length, in 937, Olav, son of Gudrod, mianaged to destroy the Limerick force on Lough Ree (where it threatened Dublin at close quarters), capturing their chieftains Olav the Scurfy (Ceannoairech). Shortly after Harald, son of Sigtrygg, descendant of Ivar, is mentioned as king of Limerick, which must accordingly have about 920.

the 10th century.

;

come with

into the possesision of the Ivar family this,

we hear no more

by that time. And,

in accordance

of fighting between Limerick and Dublin.

next generation, in 964, Sigtrygg, probably a son of Harald,

is

In the

m.entioned as

king of Limerick. From this time the Dublin leadership over the Norse in Ireland was imdisputed, and Olav Cuaran must have had a very strong position in the

when

he had dropped his hereditary claims in England. Thsre are, on the other hand, no signs to suggeisit that the Norwegians could, or wished to, aim at a real conquest of all Ireland. It is evident that the Norse kings ruled in the same way as the petty kings of the Irish and were engrossed by the same interests. It is not doubtful that Christianity had little by little gained considerable ground among the Norse. Noirso and Irish families were country

at last

by marriage and confederation. The Norwegions were already in a fair way of being assimilated as a normal element of the population of Ireland. But this also entailed the introduction of Irish dissensions into the Dublin allied

dynasty

itself.

Olav Cuaran had a younger kinsman, Glunjaran, son of his cousin Olav, son of Gudrod by Gonflath, daughter of Muircheartach. Gonflath in an earlier marriage had bom Maeleechlainn II, king of Meath and, in 980, high-king of '

Steenstrup:

Norniannerne,

III, p. 129.

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There must have been somewhat strained relations between Olav Cuaran and Glunjaran, who had been kept out of his share in the royal power in spite of his influential relations. Olav Cuaran, again, was married to a daughter of the king of Leinster, who was the opponent of Maelsechlaiim. It was, accordingly, a family feud rather than a national war when Maelsechlainn marched against Dublin, and Olav Cuaran was defeated in the battle of Tara in 980, a great number of Norsemen from Dublin and the Western Isles being killed. There fell Ragnvald, Olav's son. Dublin was taken after a three days' siege, the victor exacting a tax of one otmze of gold from every house in the town. Olav Cuaran retired into the monastery of lona, where he became a monk and died a pious penitent. The Irish celebrated the battle of Tara as a national victory, as their deliNeivertheless it did not lead to the expulvery from the Babylonish captivity sion of the Norwegian dynasty. Maelsechlainn made his half-brother Glunjaran king of Dublin, but tributary to him as high-king. The Norse rule in Dublin was made a recognised part of the established political system of the coimtry. But Dublin was shaken by internal dissensions. Glunjaran was 989 by of his men, Kolbein, jaculator regis. Immediately murdered in one > after we hear of several chieftains, of Ivar who had to make his escape from Dublin, of Ragnvald who fought unsuccessfully in Leinster, and finally of Olav Cuaran's son Sigtrygg who became sole king of Dublin. This Sigtrygg is identical with Sigtrygg of the Silken Beard, well-known from Norse sources, reigning from 989 to 1035. Just as Glunjaran was a half-brotlier of Maelsechlainn's, so Sigtrygg wais the son of a sister of Maelmorda, king of Leinster, who, being his uncle, miust of course have been his natural ally too; the highking of Ireland, Maelsechlainn, was their natural antagonist. But there soon arose a new power menacing them all, the power of Brian Boru, king of the Ireland.

.

Dalcassians of Munster.

Brian is the grandest figure in the earlier part of Irish history, and not merely as a hero and warrior of fantastic dimensions, but also as an ambitious political leader who knew the object of the struggle. As a younger son, while his brother Mahoun was yet on the throne, he began to fight the Norse singlehanded at the head of a band of volunteers. It was at this time that the Limerick Norse were particularly troublesome in Munster. They brought in their ships to the upper Shannon, and took up ai fortified position at Tradry (Bunnratty), dcmiimating the surrounding country. Mahoun was compelled to accept the terms of submission and tribute; but Brian continued the fight, falling upon isolated parties of Norsemen and killing as many as he could. But his own band dwindled down sadly. In the mean time Mahoun had become king of Cashel too in 964 and, with this, high-king of all Munster. He then turned all his forces against Limerick (968). Bands of Irish warriors from all quarters joined him, and on the plain by Sulcoit near Tipperary this

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75

army met

Ivar, Ivar's descendant, king of Limerick, who had also whole force consisting of Norse as well as Irish warriors. Ivar was defeated. Limerick was taken by assault and burnt down, the men capable of carrying arms were killed, womien and children were carried off. Mahoun traversed all Munster, killing the foreign warriors quartered on the population, wherever they could be found. He gained nine victories, one of them even over the united forces of the Limerick and Waterford men. In 969 he was in Cork taking hostages. Ivar had sailed to Wales, but returned the year after, look up a position Limerick, and fortified the islands in the Shannon. He was supported in in his fight against Mahoun by Magnus, son of Harald, king of Man, and by the chieftains (logmen) of the Hebrides, and likewise by Irish allies; in this fight Mahoun was treacherously murdered. But in ensuing fights against Brian, Ivar and his three sons fell, and Limerick was sacked once more (977). Glunjaran came to the rescue with Norse warriors from Dublin and with reinforcements from Maelsechlainn; but Brian beat these enemies too, becoming at last undisputed master of all the South of Ireland. It was evident that he wais now aiming at pursuing his triumph and ait making himself highking of Ireland. It was during this time of tension between Brian and Maelsechlainn that Sigtrygg of the Silken Beard became king of Dublin in 989. His kinsman, the king of Leinster, had by that time already submitted to Brian, and it seems probably that Sigtrygg was on the same side. We find, at any rate, that these two joined hands when Leinster rose against Brian in 999. But in the battle of Glenmama, A. D. 1000, Sigtrygg and Maelmorda were heavily defeated. Olav, the heir to the throne of Dublin, fell, and with him 4000 Norsemen, Dublin was once more captured and sacked. The two kings submitted to Brian, both being suffered to retain their kingdoms as his vassals. Briani married Sigtrygg's mother, Gormlath, and Sigtrj'gg got Brian's daughter for his wife,

large Irish

collected his

a double family connection being thus established as a pledge of the alliance."

were desperately entangled. She is daughter of Marchhad, a chieftain from Offaley, and sister of Maelmorda, who became king of Leinster. She was married to Olav Cuaran, whom she bore a son, Sigtrygg of the Silken Beard. She next married Maelsechlainn II, the high-king, bearing him the son C'onchobar. In her third marriage, to Hrian, she had the son Donchad. The annals of «The tour masters* mention all her three sons and their fathers, also quoting a contemporary verse about her unique matrimonial career. When sihe married Brian, she was evidently divorced from Maelsechlainn (who was But she was still alive), having probably taken up her abode with her son in nublin. presumably only married to Brian after the death of his queen Dublicothtaigh (1009). It is true that Brian was 83 years at the time. It cannot be denied that there is a difficulty "

In

Ireland,

at

this

time,

the

royal

family alliances

Gornilath's marriages offer a good example:

—

in the

mentioning

of Clontarf.

of

Donchad, Brians's son by Gormflath,

in

connection with the battle

Chapter

76

Brian's niioderation on this occasion finds

very year turning

all his

its

VI explanation

when we

see

him this

united forces against the high-king, Maelsechlainn

was indecisive, but the year after Brian whole of Southern Ireland including Norsewith the united forces from the forced the high-king to resign, and assumed his digmen from Waterford nity (1002 A. D.)- Ireland for the first time in its histoiry, was really unified, obeying one ruler. And Brian advanced farther. He collected a large fleet partly levied, it cannot be doubted, from his Norse allies in Dublin, Waterford, Wexford exacting royal tribute from Saxons, Welsh, and Scots, i. e. from the lands formerly claimed as tributary to the Dublin kings. It is also stated that he ceded one third of his returns to the king of Dublin, one third to the warriors of Leinster and Munster, and one third he spent as an endowment of arts and scholarship. The next decade of Brian's reign is the great time of peace so highly praised Brian was unquestionby the author of
The campaign

of this year

—

—

—

—

-

heavy tribute of cattle, the so-called < Boroma weighing with particular heaviniess on Leinster. For this he could, to be sure, plead a very good reason, since Leinster rose against him, supported by Dublin, Ossory and other minor tribes, in the year 1012. Other tribes kept neutral in the feud, but did not for all that obey Brian's call for levies. The whole fabric of his new-established kingship was seriously shaken." Brian conducted the men of Munster through Leinster, and lay before Dublin

resumed with severity the exaction

of a

,

The winter was sp^ent in preparations for the next message was sent summoning to Dublin levies from Waterford, Man, and the Hebrides; warriors came from Scotland, Wales, Cornwall, Flan-

till

near Christmas 1013.

campaign.

A

She niu:'t is to the effect that Gormflath was the soul of the rising. have been divorced again, this time ifroni Brian (it she had at all been married and she was now egging on her brother, Maelmorda, and her son, Sigtrygrj of th? to him) Silken Beard, to rise against Brian. In order to secure allies she was promised to both This too sounds somewhat improbable, for the Earl Sigtrygg and Broder, the Viking. widow of Olav Cuaran must, be it remembered, have been pretty far advanced in years in '"

The

old tale

in that case :

1014. It is one of the romantic features that look so well when presented in a popular tale, but does not explain the real motive underlying a comprehensive and dangerous enterprise.

Chapter Normandy, and France. King Sigtrygg

VI

77

went

Orkney earl, Sigurd the Stout, who came from Norway and from Iceland. Among those enlisted is particularly mentioned Broder, a Viking, who had a fleet of twenty ships lying at the time on the coast of Man. The army collected at EHiblin in the spring of 1014, must have been a strong one, though it is impossible to give its exact number. The four masters» recorded that <:the stranigers gathered from all Western Europe against Brian and Maelsechlainn, bringing with them ten hundred mail-clad men.> King Brian opened the campaign on March 17 with the armies of Munster and Connaught, and in alliance with Maelsechlainn of Meath. 70 standards were bom aloft over the army of Brian as it advanced against Dublin, and on Good-Friday, the 23d of April, 1014, the famous battle of Clontarf was fought immediately outside Dublin. Brian's army was victorious. 6000 men of Leimster lay on the battlefield, and with them their Norwegian allies, including Earl Sigurd, Dugall of Dublin, son of Olav, and a number of Norwegian ders,

liimiself

to the

promiised assistance. Volunteers also

But the other side suffered, may be, still heavier losses, as is seen from the enumeration of cthe four masters»: there fell Brian, King of Erin, the Augustus of the Western Europe of his day in the 88th year of

chieftains.

his age; Murchadh, son of Brian, heir to the throne, in the 63rd year of his

age; Brian's brother, Conaing, son

of

Donncuang; and Turlough, Brian's

grandson, Murchad's son; besides these, other chieftains belonging to Brian's retinue. At least 3000 Norsemen were killed, says the same source. And it

indeed certain that the battle of Clontarf was one of the most s^anguinary many battles fought in Ireland; but if this battle, more than any other made such a deep impression at the time as well as on posterity, it was first is

of the

and foremost becausie Brian was killed." Altogether the Irish had suffered such heavy losses as to be unable to think of taking Dublin. They returned to their respective homes, and at once on the very march home dissensions between Irish chieftains were renewed. The real victor was Maelsechlainn, the earlier high-kinig, dethroned by Brian, but now his ally. His attitude during the battle was dubious. Even his contemporaries hinted that he held back at first while the tide was as yet going strongly against Brian, and that he did not throw in his lot with the losing side till he could turn the fight to his own advantage. He resumed his position as high-king of Ireland once more. There is no mention of the Irish taking the Norwegian ships, an achievement which, be it remembered, is as a rule mentioned when carried out. It is accordingly probable that the survivons ©scaped. In Dublin a sally against the enemy was thought of on

—

—

—

—

'' The sources give no sure guidance as to the course of the battle in all its delails, though it is described in a number of different sources. '. On the Norse side there is the well-known account given in Njiil's saga, chapter 157.

C h

78

a p

t

e r

V

I

the day after the battle, but did not come off. Sigtrygg himself had followed the course of the battle from a tower in the fortifications of Dublin, and he

calmly remained in the town as before. The battle of Clontarf, ending as it had no political consequences, while the odds are that the course of events

did,

would have been different

if

the Norse had gained a victory.

—

With these

great preparations, with contingents called in from all the Viking settlements of Western Europe, from Norway, and from Iceland, it seems a fair inference that the object

must have been the consolidation of the Norwegian dominion

on a greater scale than before. The great number of men flocking must obviously have been atitracted by chances of conquest; and many came, moreover, accompanied by their families, as if for the purpose of gaining new land for settlement. It was in the same year that the it goes Danish king Svein carried out his conquest of England, exciting It is a without saying a mighty sensation throughout Northern Europe. very natural conjecture that Sigurd the Stout had sailed to Dublin full of very in Ireland

in to join in the battle

—

—

ambitious plans.^-

To sum

upon the battle of Clontarf as a national to be no decisive Norwegian defeat. it victory. But in its The Norse settlements remained as before, and in a most prosperous condition. Sigtrygg of the Silken Beard still reigned for more than twenty years as the undisputed king of Dublin, and Irish history was still taken up with internal dissensions and constant feuds, in which we meet Sigtrygg on the warpath as often as anybody else.'' The timie was now ripe for Dublin to adopt Christianity officially. Sigtrygg built the Cathedral of Dublin, and made a pilgrimage to Rome, and at the same time bishoprics were founded in the other Norse towns. This took place simultaneously with the activity of Olav the Saint in Norway, entailing events that were as a matter of course well known in a sea-port like Dublin. In 1034 Sigtrygg was attacked by Margad of Waterford, whose father Ragnvald had been murdered in Dublin. It is stated that Sigtrygg went away across the sea, and that Margad succeeded him on the throne. Sigtrygg must We may fairly conjecture that he at that time have been about 65 years. followed the example of his father, going to the mooastery of lona to end his days in a holy life. He was the last of the Ivar dynasty in Dublin. up, the Irish rightly look

proved

consequences

" This theory is utterly rejected by Kendrick: A History of the Vikings, p. 292. Kendrick has on the whole given a greatly idealised picture of the statecraft and power of Brian, and in his description of his last fight he on several occasions uses the expression Here a conscious nationalism is introduced that was, ^the national army- and the rebels beyond any doubt, utterly foreign to tho Ireland ol the time. Brian himself had many a time " For instance: in 1015 fought as the ally of the Norwegians against other Irishmen. Maelseehlainn was before Dublin, burning the houses. In 1018 Sigtrygg ravaged Kells, taking great numbers of captives and much plunder, but suffering a defeat at Delgany. His last victory was won on the Boyne in 1032. .

CHAPTER

VII.

ENGLAND UNDER ALFRED THE GREAT. When we we

turn our attention from Ireland to contemporary English history,

by the

produced by events of entirely correAnglo-Saxon Engsponding nature, in two land, too, was divided into several independent kingdoms at the beginning of the 9th century; but the Anglo-Saxons were, for all that, a people filled with a far stronger sense of solidarity, above all endowed with a higher political ability, and with a moire decided turn for constructive statecraft than the Irish. In England history could not possibly end in a chaos of senseless everwas used as a whether offensive or defensive lasting feuds. Here war deliberate, political means of gaining and securing certain ends. On English soil, accordingly, the turmoil of the Viking time developed on broader lines. Amidst vicissitudes of fortune, the struggle always aimed at the creation of a united English kingdom. The kings of Wessex became the leaders of are particularly struck

effects

peoples so essentially different.

—

—

the fight for national unity.

And yet the history of England during the Viking period presents the most unexpected and dramatic contrasts. Great kings saved the country on tlie brink of destruction, raising it again to a powerful position; but it was conquered anew by the Danes led by Svein and Cnut, had another short period of independence, to fall at last, in the battle of Senlac, under the sway of William and his Normans. It is no exaggeration to say that the Viking time is the most disastrous period England had passed through since the Anglo-Saxon invasion. The country had been divided into a heptarchy of small kingdoms, and internal wars had been the usual state of affairs. But in the course of the 8th century the unification of the country had made great advances. At first the leadership fell to the kings of Mercia, an inland kingdom in the heart of England, bordering on Northumbria to the north, on East Anglia to the east, on Kent and Wessex to the south. On its western borders Celtic Britain still remained independent for a long time to ccmie. It was the kings of Mercia, first -^Ethelbald, and after him Offa (the two reigns lasting from 716 to 796) that made themselves masters of the whole of England; other Anglo-Saxon princes had to submit as vassals of Mercia. But there was no worthy heir to Offa's

C h ai)

80

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V II

power. His two first successoTs fell fighting rebellio'us vassals, and England was again divided into five independent kingdoms. The leadership passed into the hands of Eogberth of Wessex, who was bieyond a doubt the ablest of the five kings. Ecgberth had been an exile during Offa's reign,

for 13 years.

and had been a commander

He

in the service of Charles the Great

beat the forces of Mercia

(at

Edlandune,

in 823),

and

a

few

years later received homage as the overlord of all the princes and states of England (829). Ecgberth also became progenitor of a royal line destined to fight through four generations for the very existence of England,

becoming

thereby the founders of the political unity of the country for all time to follow. The uniion of England was a result of the Viking conquests that swept off the earlier petty states and their royal houses. The line of Ecgberth, the kings of Wessex, survived as the siole leading representatives of Anglo-Saxon defence. The Vikings had begim to appear before Ecgberth came to the throne. Under his predecessor, Eeohtric, we have the well-known record of the three ships from Hsere^alaind; and in 793 the first ravaging of Lindisfame. In the following year the Vikings attacked Ecgbedh's monastery at Donemouth (now Monkwearmouth) in Northumbria, but met with reverses, and were shipwrecked. After these initial incidents, of no serious impoirtance, the Norse operations were directed against Ireland, and no raids on England aire recorded But in 834, the year of the first Danish attack for a period of forty yeans. upon Frisia, a party of Danes also ravaged the island of Sheppey at the mouth of the Thames, and in 836 they beat King Ecgberth himself, killing a great number of his men. The king, however, was to conclude his reign by a signal victory, at Hengistdun (Hingston Down), inflicting a crushing defeat on a large Viking army swollen by Celts from Cornwall. Ecgberth died in 839, and was succeeded by his son, ^thelwulf, a pious and amiable character, but weak. The raids of 834 839 are evidently to be regarded as accidental diversions of Danish forces engaged in the operations in Frisia during these years. As we shall see lateir, there is every reason to suspect that the Danes were called in by Lothar to his assistance in the pending war between Carolingian princes, and natiu-ally those unruly mercenaries were likely to infest all the coasts of the Channel waters. A few descents are recorded from the following years toio. An attack on Southampton was frustrated with great slaughter of pirates in 840. In 841 scto© other Danes won a fight in Romney Marsh on the south coast of Kent, while others were killed in Lincolnshire and East Anglia. The attacks on England were as yet only sudden piratical raids, causing loss of property, it is true, and personal calamities, but not of a kind that could be called a danger to the kingdom itself. It is quite clear that the majority of Vikings visiting Anglo-Saxon England

—

C hajj in the first lialf of the 9th century,

t

e r

V II

were Danes.

81 It is

during this period that

the Norwegians had their first expansion in Scotch and Irish territories, settling, no doubt, along the West coast of England too, in Celtic Strathclyde, in

Wales and Cornwall, i. e. in lands outside the field of English history The Vikings in Southern and Western England, on the other hand, operated in close connection with the expeditions to Frisia and Northern France. The fleet visiting London in 842, sailed from there to Quentovic in Northern France, and returned to plunder Rochester. It is moreover an ascertained fact that it was Danes who settled in Frisia from as early as the beginning of the Viking period, and we find that, on several occasions during this Man,

in

proper.

Denmark responsible for the doings The Danish amswers were to the effect that of the Vikings in the offenders had already been punished (or were to be punished); also, It is, then, a matter of proved captives and plunder were delivered back. fact that the expeditions to Frisia issued from Denmark. From Frisia, moreover, the first expedition aiming at real conquest was now launched against time, the Carlovingians

made

the kings of

Frisia.

England.

JThe Frisia,

was made in 850. The Danish chieftain Rorik, of Thames with 350 ships, storming Canterbury and London,

first serioius attack

landed

in the

from where he went on to defeat King Beortwulf of Mercia; but returning southwards again across the Thames into Surrey, he suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of ^thelwulf in the battle of Oakley. At the same time other Vikings were beaten back in Devonshire and at Sandwich in Kent, where they lost nine ships. These were successes that might well excite hopes, and they were indeed recorded with joy in many places throughout Christendom.

And

was

very time that the Vikings established themselves in They took possession of the soil (850 851). island of Thanet off the north-eastern point of Kent, and there they stuck. In the following yeiars the men of Kent and Surrey attempted to dislodge yet

it

at this

winter quarters on English

—

them; they crossied over to the Vikings and sanguinary engagements were but the Vikings held their ground. fought two ealdormen falling there In 855 they also seized Sheppy at the entrance of the Thames. Holding Thanet

—

—

•

and Sheppey, they were now in a splendid situation for launching attacks on both coasts, against England, Frisia, and France. From this oentre issued Bjom's expedition to the Seine in 855. Here, too, two hundred ships were collected in 860, to carry the great army that invaded Wes&ex, storming and sacking Winchester itself, the residence of the kings, with great bloodshed. The famous sons of Ragnar, Halvdan, Ubbe, and Ivar, now became leaders of the Vikings in England. It is certain that they came from Frisia. Their army was comjx>sed of Danes and Frisians, and Ubbe is later called chieftain of the Frisians, «dux Fresonum:^. Their father was in all probability that 6

—

Viking Antiquities.

82

C

h

ap

t

e r

V II

Danish Ragnar who sacked Paris in 845 and was bought off by the payment of 7000 pounds of silver, possibly, too, identical with the Ragnar who had ravaged Flanders in 838. In Scandinavian tradition they are the sons of Ragnar Lodbrok, and their expedition to England is said to have been a revenge for their father, who had died in the snakes' pen of King Ella of Northumbria. This may confidently be classed as mere fiction, not history just as the figure of Ragnar Lodbrok as a whole is so completely covered by the veil of legends that it has lost all connection with reality. He became a legendary hero, of the same order as Sigurd Fafnisbani, and his fame in the world of legends also caused the name of the sons of Lodbrok to be connected with those sons of Ragnar who landed in England in 855. ^thelwulf of Wessex had died in 856, and his three sons, .^thelbald, jEthelbert, and ^thelred, succeeded each other on the throne, their three which were filled with a hopeless reigns covering a period of fifteen years, struggle against the Vikings. Northumbria was the scene of internal warfare attended with regicides and uisurpations of the royal power; and it was there that the first attack was now made. In 865 the Viking army took up once more In the following year it called in great its position on Thanet, ravaging Kent. reinforcements, established itself in East Anglia, and marched into Northumbria. York was captured in November 866. The two contending kings of Northumbria joined their forces against the Vikings and attacked York, but were completely beaten, both of them being killed in the battle (March 21, 867). They were the last Anglo-Saxon kings of an independent Northumbria. The Vikings kept the country. The Anglo-Saxon frontier state to the north, Bemicia, had a respite of ten years under the kings Ecgberth and Ricsig, but were incorporated in the Danish possession in 875. In 868 the army invaded Mercia. King Burhred was assisted by ^thelred of Wessex and his brother Alfred, by Eadmund of East Anglia, by the archaltogether a levy of all bishop of Canterbury, and by other prominent men, safe within their fortiVikings were Anglo-Saxons. But the the forces of the fications in Nottingham, and could not be driven away. It proved necessary to come to terms with them in order to induce them to march back to York with their plunder. In 870 the army marched again through Mercia into East Anglia. A part of the army was at first beaten by Anglo-Saxon levies under Earl Algar the younger, three Danish kings being killed in the battle. But

—

—

—

next day, the main force of the Danes, led by five kings and five earls, returned, and the fighting resulted in the routing of the English.

We are, by chance, in possession of very detailed descriptions of the plunderings of the army during the weeks immediately after the battle, through the account given by a young boy Turgar, who was an eye-witness. He was the only survivor from the sacking of Crowland abbey. Earl Sidroc taking him

Chapter

VII

83

and keeping him for some time as his follower. Turgar towns being burnt down, monasteries being destroyed, Crowland, Medeshamstede, Ely, and also the see of Saham. Local resistance was beiaten down, such as that led by the ealdoraian Ulfketil at Theitford. In the course of some months East Anglia was conquered, relentlessly ravaged, and half depopulated. The chieftain Ivar sent a message to King Edmimd

into his protection

was there

—

to see

he must abjure Christianity and become a vassal-king under Later on in the same year, Edmund was taken captive by the Vikings, and as he was still unwilling to abandon his faith, he was tied to a tree and killed slowly with arirows, on November 10th 870. He accepted his martyrdom with great fortitude, and gained for himself the glory of a saint. He was after-

to the effect that

him.

wards highly honoured as a saint in Norway

The Vikings,

too.

Thames, began which they had spared since the sacking of Winchester in 864. Early in the year 871 the struggle began about the last and strongest English kingdom, a struggle that was destined to be carried on stubbornly for eight years, until the final result was gained, Alfred having saved his kingdom and at the same time all England as an Anglo-Saxon coimtry. The Vikings crossed the Thames and marched to Reading where they erected fortifications, led by the kings Halvdan and Bagseog and six earls. A vanguard which was sent southwards, was beaten by the ealdorman, ^thelwulf. Earl Sidroc being killed. Thus began that sanguinary year 871, during which six battles were fought, besides many minor engagements. The main army of the Saxons now came up, led by ^thelred and his brother Alfred. The attack on Reading was beaten off, and the Saxons were pursued nearly as far as Windsor. But four days later a Saxon victory was gained at Ashdown, where Alfred first won a name as a warrior. Here fell King Bagsecg and five earls, and many were killed in the flight; never was so much slaughter heard of in England before. But in spite of this the Vikings held on in Reading, and here, as so often in the history of the time, the Viking army seemed only to draw new strength from adversity*. It was only a few weeks after the isanguinary day and evening of Ashdown, that the Danes once miore defeated ^thelred and Alfred at Basing in Hampshire, and two months after that a battle was fought at Maeretun (Marton) in Surrey, in which the Saxons were successful the whole day through, only to be forced, towards evening, to leave the battle-field m the possession of the Vikings. King ^thelred died immediately after the battle. So many vicissitudes had come then, masters of all English land north of the

their advance southwards against

Wessex

itself,

off in this quarter of a year.

Ever since the invasion of Northumbria and Mercia it had been manifest were now bent on something ver>' different from their usual piratical raids: they were aiming at a permanent conquest of the country. De-

that the Vikings

Chapter

84 struction

and plundering were,

it

is

Vll

true, still features of the first stage of

fighting; but this time they were only the first steps towards the taking posIt was evidently session of the land and towards extensive colonisation. felt by the contemporaries, too, that Wessex was the last stronghold of Anglo-Saxon independence. j45thelred's sons were young; so the men of Wessex, needing an experienced leader, took Alfred for their king. But he had no successful start. He lost the battle of Wilton, in Wiltshire, and in the same year he had to fight three more battles south of the Thames. The Danes too suffered heavy losses; one of their kings and nine earls fell fighting in Wessex, and it became manifest that there was no chance of conquest that time. Alfred, too, must have needed a cessation of hostilities to strengthen his position, or he would not have come to terms with the Vikings, paying

them to leave his country. The army retreated barely across the

frontier of Alfred's kingdom, win-

Here the Vikings But king Burhred to enjoy for jany length of time the fruits of the tribute he haid paid for the deliverance of London. In 874 the Vikings again invaded Mercia and established themselves in Repton, the royal residence with the venerable monastery in which the kings of Mercia were entombed. King Burhred fled in despair to Rome. The Vikings at first set up a nominal king, Ceolwulf, an unwise man, it is stated, who moreover behaved so tyrannically under the protection of the Danes that he was dethroned, dying in a state of misery. He was the last) king of Mercia, a kingdom that had held all England under its sway a little less than a hundred years before. Three of the old Anglo-Saxon kingdoms had now been swept away for ever, Northumbria, East Anglia, and Mercia, and the time had now come for launching a fresh tering in London, which belonged to the king of Mercia.

were again paid was not destined

to

withdraw, returning to Northumbria.

—

attack on

Wessex.

The Vikings had begun to divide their new-conquered lands. King Halvdan became lord of Northumbria, and repaired with his army to York. Guthrum, now one of the chief leaders, took East Anglia for his kingdom. Mercia was allotted to other chieftains, as a confederation of five earls, each residing in his town, called the Five Boroughs>. Guthrum wintered,

—

—

with his army, in Cambridge, in the border tracts between East Anglia and Mercia; and in 876 the attacks on Wessex began under the leadership of

Guthrum and two other kings, Osketil and Amund. The invasion undertaken first summer was successfully warded off. The Danes were driven out,

the

first

from Wareham on the coast of Dorset, then from Exeter, sworn to leave But in the middle of winter, on the 12th day after Christ-

Alfred's kingdom.^ *

The

Early Wars

during these years have been Wessex, Cambridge 1913, pp. 137 f.

fights of

critically

analysed by Albany F. Major:

C

hap

t

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V II

85

and unsuspected inroad into the very heart of in spite of promises given on oath. The Danes had horses, and rushed on like a storm, bearing down all resistance. For months the enemy ravaged unopposed. Captives were carried off. Others fled across the sea; and the country submitted to its fate. At length it looked as if

mas 877, the most Wessex took place,

violent

Wessex were going

to fall.

was during these winter months that King Alfred himself wandered about a homeless fugitive. With a few followers he took up a position farthest west in his kingdom, not far from the Cornwall border, on a small where all the fugiisland, Aethelney, in the miarshes by the river Parret, messages were sent to all secret From this centre round him.tives rallied on an appointed faithful men in Wessex, intimating that they were to gather day, seven weeks -after Easter. As early as shortly before Easter the first encounter with the enemy took place, the Saxons carrying the day. At the appointed time the main force sallied forth led by Alfred. It met the Viking army at Ethandun in Wiltshire. The Danes had to give way, retreating to a fortified camp established at Chippenham. Here they were invested and cut off from reinforcements, sio that they had to sue for peace after a fortnight. The assault on Wessex had been a well-planned surprise, and it had been carried out with astounding boldnjess; but it had failed. The Danes gave hostages and swore oaths to depart, and the armies separated. Seven weeks It

—

later

Guthrum came with 30

chieftains to king Alfred to be baptised a Chri-

On the 8th day they went through the ceremony of chrisom, but still remained with King Alfred for 12 days. He then sent them away loaded with gifts. This happened in the spring of 878. In the years immediately after was concluded that famous peace between Alfred and Guthrum which fixed the frontiers between East Anglia and Wessex, besides arranging the legal relations of the tvvo realms. Guthrum kept East Anglia as his kingdom. The southern part of Mercia was incorporated with Wessex, which in that way grew to be more than one third of After a breach of peace in 885 Alfred also the whole of England proper. seized London, which was now fortified. The remainder of Mercia had fallen to the Viking army, and had been organised as a free confederation of five boroughs, Lincoln, Stamford, Nottingham, Derby, and Leicester. Northumbria became a Viking state with York for its centre. The frontiers between English and Danish territories ran along the rivers Thames and Lea, from there to Bedford and farther along the river Ouse to Watling Street, which formed stian.

the continuation of the borderline as far as Chester. frontier ^

now

was

called the

Danelaw;

in

it

The land north

of this

Danish, not Engli sh, law and justice pre-

In Aethelney, in 1693, was found that well-known personal ornament, .\ltred's jewel, in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. It bears the King's name.

C

86 vailed.

And

h a p

t

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V II

there the land was to a large extent seized by Scandinavian

proved by the great number of Scandinavian place-names England to this day. Guthrum's peace, then, split the coimtry into two parts, not only politically, but nationally too. But King Alfred's kingdom was larger than each of the three Viking states separately, and it was, moreover, much more firmly organised. In the long run it was to fall to the lot of Wessex to unify England anew. Tlie peace concluded with Guthrum was kept unbroken for fourteen years (878 892), apart from a short feud against newly arrived Vikings who had landed in East Anglia in 884. Wessex had need of these years of peace for recovering strength, and the respite was turned to full benefit. King Alfred settlers,

as

is

existing in Northern

—

organised the

militia,

erected garrisoned fortresses, increased the professional

and built a mew fleet of larger and more efficient He was now incomparably better armed to encounter the attack, when tlie last assault on Wessex came upon him in 892. Still the war was

army

in constant service,

vessels.

severe enough, and it lasted for four years. This timie the great army operating on the Seine crossed to England in 250 ships, with horses and camp train, disembarking in eastern Kent. At this same time the famous chieftain Hasting also left his position at Amiens and landed at the mouth of the Thames with a fleet of 80 ships. From here Hasting operated in agreement with the great Seine army coming from the south, both armies drawing ample reinforcements of men and ships from East Anglia and Northumbria. Earl Sigfred arrived from the north with 140 ships. The attacks were conducted by sea and by land, fortified camps served as starting-points for wide-spread raids over the country and rapid cross-country expeditions, according to the

had been improved to perfection during the last generation in Viking campaigns in France. Fighting went on constantly, partly against the local levies, partly against the king and his army. The Vikings too had many reverses, but they were never wholly defeated. It was a war without imjportant and decisive battles. Alfred's system of defence stood its test, and proved superior in the long run. He avoided staking too much on one battle, but was constantly in pursuit of the Vikings, pressing them on their marches and in their camps, destroying minor parties, cutting them off from plunder and provisions. At tactics that

were forced to give up their main position on the river Lea, not far from London, and to leave their ships to the enemy. In itself this was no last they

decisive blow, but in 896.

Some

it

nevertheless led to the dissolution of the Viking

of the Vikings

went

to East-Anglia

army

and Northumbria, others

returned with Hasting to France. Alfred the Great lived his last five years in peace. He had given signal proof of his great qualities as a king imder the most perilous circumstances.

C

As

a ruler, too, he

country from

all

showed

its

h a p

that

calamities.

t

e r

V

1

87

he understood how

to raise once more his History has ©specially recorded his great

solicitude for churches

and

ecclesiastical

ture and scholarship.

He

called in learned

endowments, and likewise for literamen from Ireland, Wales, and France, and took part in the mental activity himself. He gave his attention to Anglo-Saxon as being the language current at court, in literature, and partly even in public documents. The King's interest in church and literature was to serve his great political aim, the religion and the language becoming the national symbols that united all English provinces.

CHAPTER

VIII.

THE UNIFICATION OF ENGLAND UNDER THE WESSEX KINGS. The peace between Alfred and Guthrum had divided England, and the Viking army took possession of its land, East Anglia under King Guthrum, Northumbria under Halvdan, Mercia portioned out ford, Nottinghaim,

how

to several chieftains as a

The Five Boroughs, e. Lincoln, StamDerby, and Leicester. We have no direct information as to

confederation of five principal towns.

i

the Vikings arranged the partition of the land.

Later on

it

appears from

agreements with English kings that the land was divided among chieftains. Each district had its chieftain at ihe head of a number of leaders and free-

men. Examples mentioned are Earl Thorketil in 915, and with him the «haulds» and leaders belonging to Bedford, and Earl Thorfred in 915 with the «hauldsy', and all the army belonging to Cambridge. The fortified town, the borough,

was the centre of each chieftain's dominion. Round the earl we find the who are chieftains of the haulds,^ large yeomen farmers, free land-owners second rank and their leaders, prominent men of their own order; and In some of finally the army, the common warriors following the chieftains. the boroughs 12 logmenn (literally law-men) are mientioned, as for instance in Stamford, Lincoln, and later in Chester, as an indication of the legal organisation already mentioned in Man and the Hebrides.

—

—

,

—

—

Anglo-Saxon sources of this period always use the expression se here)) (o: the army) to designate the Vikings that had settled in the country. And when warfare was going on, we do indeed see that the settled Vikings mobilised as an army, either from a whole state under its king, or from one borough, or from several confederated boroughs. The conquest evidently bore the stamp of a military occupation supported by fortresses. It is quite natural that the army had to be under arms, consisting •

as

it

did of conquerors living

of the whole conquest

among a

was the

foreign people. All the same, the object

taking,

and the cultivation of the land by the

The designation haiild, Anglo-Saxon hold, does not occur in England till after the The conception as well as the word is supposed to be distinctly Norwegian, and would in that case go to show an increasing Norse immigration among the Danes in Eng^

year 900.

land at this time.

C h

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89

moreover borne out farms and villages and other by the great quantity of Scandinavian names of place-names throughout Northern and Wes-tem England. The place-names are altogetheir an extremely uisieful miaterial for the study of Scandinavian settlements in England during the Viking period.' To Vikings.

This

is

stated expressly in the sources, and

between Norwegian and Danish light throw some on the nationalities of the ooilonists. names, and in this way to In East Amglia the Scandinavian plaoe-namies are comparatively scarce among a majority of English names,in Essex there is only one small colony on the coast (by Walton-on-the-Naze). In the Five Boroughs the colonisation is seen to have been much denser, and to have been grouped more particularly about Watling Street and, in the north-east, about Lincoln; here, in Lindsey, the Scandinavian names outnumber the English ones in many places. Throughout a large extent

it

is

possible, too, to diisliniguish

names are in a very great majority, and it is signihere meet with such names as Normanby, Normanton, Nor-

these tracts the Danish ficant that

we

mancross, which show that casually Norwegians too, as exceptions, took part in

an occupation essentially Danish. In ancient Northumbria, particularly

in Yorkshire, Danish place-names abound and afford uncontested evidence of settlements on a great scale. But there Norwegian names too are frequent and are indeed to be found in quite considerable proportions in Western and Northern Yorkshire; in the immeThis diate neighbourhood of the Tyne they outnumber the Danish names. bears witness to the Norwegian invasion from Cumberland, Westmoreland, and Lancashire. All the west coast of Great Britain was a Norse sphere of influence connected with the settleiments in the Scottish Isles, in Man, and in Ireland.

On

the southernmost coast of

Wales

are found in the two peninsulas of

distinct

groups of Scandinavian names

Gower and Pembroke; there must

evi-

dently have been two small colonies on the coast, most probably connected In the peninsula of Wirral by Chester we Norwegian colony of peculiar interest, the taking of land in this place being known to history. As mentioned above, a chieftain, Ingemimd, conducted a band of Norwegians from Ireland after the catastrophe of 901 (the fall of Dublin). He applied for, and received, land from> the English princess ^thelfled, the Lady of Mercia, and this land he retained in spite of a subsequent breach of peace, as shall be mentioned below. In Wirral we may still

with trading-places and harbours.

meet

a

A

'

survey

of this subject

Mawer and

is

"i-ven

by Eilert Ekwall

En
in

Place-Nanie Society,

Survey of Eniilisb PlaceNames I, p. 55, The Scandinavian Element, Canibrid<»e 1925. The place-names have also been excellently used as an historical source by W. G. Collingwood: Scandinavian Britain, vol.

I,

part

I.

A.

F.

M. Stenton:

Introduction to

tihe

—

London

1908.

Chapter VIU

90

was divided, every farmer's land is apportioned with a him a shore-line on one of the fjords Mersey or Dee, a part of the flat land, and its continuation upwards on to the moor, that is to say: the land between miountains and sea-shore, as the Icelanders term it. In the discern

view

how

the land

to giving

middle of the peninsula lies Thingwall, still retaining its old name. We thus discern a colony founded and orgaindsed under a common leadership, and stated to be dependent on Anglo-Saxon Mercia by special agreement. To the north of this colony and close to it, there is another group of Norwegian names in the neighbourhood of Liverpool. Those names too are grouped round a Thingwall. Farther north a third colony is discerned in the district of Aumundemess, the ancient Ogmundarnes, which may well have

been named

head of this settlement, as was Ingemund we have the name of Thingwall, applied to two places, one near Dumfries, the other in Galloway. The whole of this part of Western England abounds in Norwegian names for farms and other localities, and, particularly in Cumberland, the immigration is not oonfined in Wirral.

•to

after a chieftain at tlie

In southern Scotland, too,

the littoral only; in the high-lying settlements of the

Lake

District Nor-

wegian place-names predominate, intermixed with only a few of the earlier Celtic namies. In Lancashire most place-names are Norwegian up in the hills, while Englisih names dominate in the low country. The names, then, mark the distribution of settlers according to their nationality indicating at the

same

advances from different quarters. The Danish army from Frisia and France took poissession of the land by systemiatic conquests won by great campaigns from the south, while the Norse invaded the country from^ the north and west, from their colonies in Scotland and Ireland. The two invasions resulted equally in comprehensive settlements in EngYorkshire is still land, and have left their traces in adminiistirative terms. divided into three < ridings (which word is derived from the ancient Scandinavian t>ri&jimgr ) as was formerly the case with Lindsey too; that is to say, we have here to do with the division known to have existed in several places in Norway, in the island of Gotland, as well as elsewhere in the Scandinavian North. In northern England the townships are in some places (as for instance in Lancashire and Yorkshire) called bierlows or byrlaws, from Old Scandinavian -ibyjarlog/ (i. e. townlaw). The Anglo-Saxon division of the rural districts in hundreds are in the Danelaw replaced by wapentako

timie their

which was

literally a designation for the

':

thing,?,

or folk-mote, as a mustering

of the armiy. Place-names like Thingwall, Thinghow still survive in several places from East Anglia to Cheshire, to remind us of old <;thingr^ -places. Surviving traces of the Scandinavian standard of weights and measures in local use, have likewise been discovered in districts settled by Vikings. Obviously, their colonies were organiseid according to their own legal and social systems.

Chapter

Vlll

91

But these settleiments did not, to be sure, create colonies of unmixed Scandinavian population. The Anglo-Saxons, and farther west the Celts, were in the country before the Vikings came, and they remained there. The population had, we may be sure, decreased coinsiderably during the Viking invasion and the conquest of the land; but it should be kept in mind that a people shows an astonishing power of regeneration after the greatest calamities, and historical evidence proves clearly enough that the Viking realms retained within their territories strong elements of earlier races. It should also be noted that conditions varied much in different places, because the Viking settlements did not at all develop along the same lines everywhere, military needs and strategic communications and so on having to be considered. To a large extent, of course, the Vikings reduced the original inhabitants to the state of dependent serfs, appropriating all the land to themselves; but in other places the land vas not seized, while on the other hand waste tracts were now occupied by the invaders. We get but little detailed knowledge from the records, but we clearly see that Scandinavians and AngloSaxons found at am early date the way to a compromise of peaceable relations, and that they began to amalgamate by intercourse and intermarriage. Danish and Norwegian Vikings became one of the principal elements constituting the coming English nation. But the states created by the peace between Alfred and Guthrum were not destined to survive very long. Only a few years after the death of Alfred there was fresh trouble, caused, however, by internal dissensions in the royal house of Wessex. Alfred was succeeded by his son Edward, called the Elder but there was another heir, the son of ^thelred, ^thelwald, who had been passed over when Alfred became king, but now laid claim to the throne. He raised a revolt in Dorset and Hampshire, but was put to flight and took refuge in Northumbria. Here he attempted to egg the Vikings on to war against Wessex. With men and ships from the North, he landed in Essex, where he was joined by the king of East Anglia, Eohric, who had succeeded to the throne on the death of Guthrum (891). The two allies advanced into Saxon Mercia. Edward, in defence, made a counter attack on East Anglia, and a battle was fought at Holme in Cambridgeshire (906), where great numbers were killed on both sides. Neither side was decidedly victorious, but the battle, for all that, had decisive consequences, because ^thelwald and Eohric were among the killed. Peace was concluded immediately after on the ,

terms of status quo, only with the added provisions that the army of East Anglia was to be christianised and to respect the church, and moreover both sides agreed upon common rules in the treatment of mutual criminal cases. Both these provisions were evidently made with a view to smoothing away the contrast

between Anglo-Saxons and Danes.

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92

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V III

But the peace was not of long duration. About 910 there was again war between Edward and Northumhria (to which we shall soon return), and from that time commences a deliberate advance both against East Anglia and the Five Boroughs. Undoubtedly it was obvious that the Viking army settled in independent states was an element too damgerous to Wessex, a hostile force that it was necessary to reduce to subc^rdination under Englis.h sovereignty. King Edward in this proved himself a worthy heir of Alfred, and his sister ^thelfled, the Lady of Mercia, was the most important personage by his side. She was miarried to ^thelred, ealdorman of Saxon Mercia; but he was broken by illness, and after lingering on for years he died early. jEthelfled conducted herself like an eminent political and military leader, working in intimate alliance with her brother for the strengthening and extension of the kingdom. These two in conjunction took up a kind of tactics initiated by Alfred, building boroughs with permanent garrisons as a defence against the Vikings; and they took further steps in advance, set up fortifications in the territory of the Danelaw, until at last the power of resistance was broken, so that East Anglia and the Five Boroughs might be incorporated with the kingdom. This work starts shortly after 910 with the erection of a series of boroughs along the frontiers, set up partly by Edward, partly by jEthelfled. Edward built castles farther eastwards all the way to Colchester, and Essex was at Next came the advance against the Five last taken from East Anglia. Boroughs at Stamford and Nottingham. Like chess-men on the board, new boroughs were moved forward into the Danelaw, ^thelfled also secured her position farthest west, by seizing the fortified Roman Chester. Judged by our standards, the Anglo-Saxon boroughs of that timie were very primitive, consisting only of earthworks and palisades. They were built in a hurry by the peaisants of the neighbourhood under cover of the king's army. But they answered their purpose, and on the whole they served to ward off all Danish attacks.

The English advance, of course, did not pass off without energetic counter-moves. There was fighting about Watling Street and, with varying success, borderland of the Danelaw. In 913 the army from Northampton and Leicester won a great victory, while others were beaten at Leighton. Bedford Earl the borough nearest the English frontier. was captured in 915, Thorketil submitted to Edward, sailing off to France later on. Likewise, many came from Northampton, the next frontier-borough, to make their submission. The year 916 came to be decisive. King Guthrum of East Anglia took in the

—

the field with his whole force, building a borough at Tempsford as a startingpoint for attacks on the English frontier; but he was himself attacked in

Tempsford by Edward. The borough

at

Tempsford was taken by storm, and

Chapter Guthrum himself was among king of East Anglia.

In the

the killed.

VIII

He was

same autumn

93

and the last Viking was renewed in Essex, at

the third

fighting

Colchester and at Maldon, the English coming off victorious; and following year the whole army of East Anglia gave up

army swore allegiance to the king, The army of Cambridge chose him

proimiising to

for their lord

in

the

The

all resistance.

defend the country for him. and protector.

East Anglia had thus been memged in Weeisex, and for good. And the Five Boroughs followed. Northampton, under Earl Thorfred, submitted of its own free will, likewise Leicester and Stamford. Nottingham was conquered. Thus Edwaird had beocme master of four of the boroughs. Lincoln alone, in the still remiained independent; as far as we can see, the army of Lincoln had taken no part in the war, nor was Lincoln attacked. But Edward,

north-east,

on the other hand, crossed the Northumbrian frontier and built the borough of Manchester, thus taking thie first step towards this northernmost of the Viking states in England (919). But here he stopped, contenting himself with a formal submission. The Winchester chronicle states that all the rulers of the North chose him for their father and their ruler> (920). Among those who paid homage to King Edward was King Raignvald of York with all the people of Northumbria, Anglo-Saxons, Danes, Norwegians, and others. The agreement probably included the Earl of Lincoln too, though this is not expressly m.entioned. The Anglo-Saxon rulers of Beimicia likewise made their submiission, and finally the king of Celtic Strathclyde and Constantine III of Scotlauid siought the friemdiship of King Edward. >

Edward, as we see, had maide it his deiliberate aim to reunite the whole of England under one ruler. East Anglia had submitted directly to him on the death of Guthrum and the surrender of his army. He proceeded in the

same manner

in

the case of the territory of the

Five Boroughs.

jEthelfled died, he annexed her dominion directly to the

When

Wessex crown,

recognising the hereditary claim of her daughter ^Ifwine,

who

had,

it

not

may

be added, been promised in marriage to king Ragnvald. Edward evidently wished to prevent a possible alliance between Mercia and Northumbria. Anglo-Saxon England now vmeontestedly had only one king and one legitimate royal house. Northumbria alone remained a Norse kingdom, under its own ruler, Ragnvald, succeeded by Sigtrygg Gale, practically independent, though formally recognising Edward as the over-king. next generation, was this kingdom too to fall.

Not

till

later,

in the

It seems surprising that the Viking kingdoms should so easily give up their independenoe only half a century after the Danish army had conquered two thirds of England at one stroke, Wessex alone very narrowly escaping the same

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94

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V III

The explanation given by Kendrick^ is undoubtedly correct, viz. that the Vikings were not alive to the importance of organising a central government over their conquests. The army, as it was when coming from the Continent, had been a strong and compact organism, experienced in warfare and trained through years of campaigns conducted by great leaders. We see, too, that the first generation after the settlement in England was still a mobile fate.

force easily collected in considerable strength. But the next generation, suc-

ceeding the colonists, had

lost the will to conquer; they were attached to their land only, each confined to his small community. There was no longer a unite3

Danish army to take the field. The home countries had given the Vikings no experience in the organisation, and the various functions, of a state, beyond the entirely local legal organiisation, which was however developed to great perfection within its limits, and which they brought with them to their colonies wherever they went. Each mimor social unit had its chieftain, who presided where the haulds^ administered law and justice. But no thing at the subordination to a larger unit was ever sufficiently strong to bind them. The Gorm's and Harald FairDanish and Norwegian kingships of the time were still at this low stage of development. Monarchy rested entirely hair's -

,

—

—

on the personal power of the kings. During Edward's successes against East Anglia and the Danelaw we see clearly that the Viking army could no longer be collected so as to offer a united front. And, besides this, we encounter at this time a peculiar change The first to submit among the Danes, Earl in the policy of the English. Thorketil and his people, had to take the king's advice and embark for France. the example of Alfred; in the first period of the had been the intention of the English to get the Vikings out of the country by arms cir by money. But by Edward's peace with East Anglia the

In this

struggle

Edward followed it

king entered into a league with the army, the latter retaining its possessions and its legal order; and the same terms were agreed upon in the case of the Five Boroughs, which, separately, resigned their independence and swore fealty to the king. Nottingham alone fought to the bitter end, being taken by storm and destroyed. Edward rebuilt the town, planting on the site a mixed

Danish and English population. This policy accounts for the fact that Edward was able to get East Anglia and the Five Boroughs under his sway. It was not a war to the bitter end, it was only a question of sovereignty. The Danes, it as a very great calamity to recognise the supreking, if only their property and their position in the English macy of an country was secured. Northumbria, then, survived as the last Viking state in England having

evidently, did not regard

'

A

History of the Vikings, p. 249.

Chapter own

Vlll

95

tiie Englisii Icing as its overlord. The liistory somewhat different from that of East Anglia and the Five Boroughs, because the Danish army here encountered the invasion of Norwegians coming from the west, which also entailed claims being made on Northern England by the dynasty of Dublin. The conquest of Northumibria by the Viking army was to all intents and purposes carried through, when York fell in 866. But the army did not establish themselves as permanent settlers during the years immediately following; it went south again, bent on fresh conquests. It was mot til 875 concluded with Wessex, was and that the army divided among that peace themselves the land they had won. Halvdan, son of Ragnar Lodbrok, got Northumbria and came, with the army, to the Tyne where he wintered. The first year was taken up with securing the frontiers by a campaign through Bemicia, with fighting the Scots in the north, and the Britons of Strathclyde. its

king, thougli recognising

of this Ivingdom is

It is

in this connection that the Ulster annals record the defeat of the Scots

at the

hands of the Danes

portioned out the country the

soil,

at

Dubgall

among

as is recorded in the

in 875.

In the following year Halvdan

and the Vikings began Anglo-Saxon chronicle. This is a very his warriors,

to

till

inter-

esting piece of direct information about the settlement.

Halvdan was not to reign long. Several English sources record in almost the same words that he was possessed by fury, so that he was hated by the army, and driven out of the country; with only three ships he fled out of the Tyne and far out on the sea, perishing soon after with all his men. This information, as has been convincingly shown by Steenstrup, is suppl3mented by Irish sources. As mentioned already on a previous occasion, we learn from these Irish sources that Halvdan, son of Ragnar (Alban Raghnall's son) was killed in a fight with Earl Bard on Strangford Lough in The Northeast of Ireland in 877. Ubbe, another son of Ragnar's, must have left Northumbria with Halvdan and fought on his side in the battle of Strangford Lough; for shortly after he made an attack on Anglesey, but was defeated by King Roderik. In the following winter he established himself in South Wales, and then proceeded to Devonshire, where he was repelled attacking the fort of Cynwit. Both Halvdan and Ubbe must accordingly have been exiled from Northumbria at the same time. Halvdan was succeeded on the throne by Gudrod, who can hardly have been related to the sons of Ragnar; he was in all likelihood of royal Danish blood. There probably was an election of a king, which, however, is only known to us from the legend recounting that St. Cuthbert instructed the abbot of Lindisfame to seek out a young man, named Gudrod, the son of Hardeonut, sold by the army as a thrall to a widow living at Hwittingaham, and to present him to the army. This was done, and the boy received the unanimous

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96

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homage of the army and the country/ was named Gudrod, and also that he

V

1 1

We know

for certain that the kint^

protected ecclesiastical

endowments and secured the rights O'f the church. Most probably be was a Christian. He swore an c^ath to King Alfred to keep neutral during Easting's invasion of England, and nothing is mentioned of his ever waging wars or taking part in campaigns. It was not to be avoided, however, that Northumbria too should be affected by the great turmoil during the fight against Hasting. Simultaneously with the great Viking army from France making its attack on Wessex in 892, Earl Sigfred arrived from the North with 140 ships, raiding during a couple of years the coasts of Southern England and Wales, as has already been mentioned. On the other side, an English commander, ^thelnoth from Somierset, had his base in York during hiis fight with Hasting; but the latter was all the same able to march through Northumbria on his retreat from Chester. We get the impression that Sigfred must have raised a naval army of volunteers from Northumbria while Gudrod remained neutral. Gudrod died on August 24th in 844, and was buried in the cathedral of York.

About the time immediately succe'eding we have very scanty information. Gudrod's successor was probably a king Cnut, whose name is found on Northumbrian coins of this time, though his namie is not otherwise mentioned But we also have coins struck for a King Sigfred in historical reoords.'^ (Sicfredus or Sicuert also spelt: Sicurt, i.e. Sigurd, in Norwegian), surely

who attacked Wessex simultaneously with Hasting's made two attacks on Gudrod's kingdom, and must have succeeded in conquering a kingdom in Northumbria. He probably member of the Ivar family of Dublin, which, as will be shown, ruled

identical with the Sigfred

invasion. finally

was

a

He had

over Northumbria of

Gudrod

also

next generation. It must have been from the time Dublin kings began to get a firm footing in Northern

in the

that the

England.

Otherwise we have very scanty information about the during King Edward's reign. We remiember that it was fled when he prepared his campaign against Edward in the battle of Holme that same year with his ally the king

affairs of the North to

York ^thelwald be killed in East Anglia. But

906, to of

Northumbria was not at that time drawn into the struggle; it evidently kept It was not til 910 its promise to King Edward of remaining outside. that the peace was broken, when Edward is said to have sent an army

' Steenstrup has discussed at length the various and mutually contradictory traditions " Steenstrup concerning this episode in Northumbrian history. Normannerne II, pp. 93 t. thinks that Gudrod and Cnut are two names for the same man. Alexander Bugge, more

plausibly, holds that Cnut

was Gudrod"s son and successor.

Chapter

VIII

97

into Northumbria and to have forced the kings to make peace. It was probably a move made to cut off reinforcements from the north to tlie Five Boroughs. But as a counter move the Northumbrians took the field the year after marching through Mercia into Wessex, while Edward was engaged in preparing a fleet in Kent. Edward's army intervened, barring the retreat back to tlie north. On the 5th of August 911 the battle at Tettenhall and Wednesfield in Staffordshire was a decisive victory for the English. Among the killed were the Kings of Northumbria, Eowils and Halvdan, descendants of Ivar's; and with them the earls Ottar and Skurfa, and many other chieftains. An Irish chronicle gives a somewhat different version, relating that Sigtrygg, a descendant of Ivars's, was King of Northumbria, and that he was ill and had to be carried away from the fight, dying in the neighbouring wood; further, that Earl Ottar then took command, but was defeated and killed. This is, surely enough, only two slightly diverging traditions of one and the same battle. And, indeed, both versions agree in reporting that the kings (or king) of Northumbria were kinsmen of Ivar's, i. e. of the Dublin dynasty. It was during these years (901 916) that the Ivar family was exiled from Dublin, and we remember that to another Norwegian leader from Ireland, Ingemund, the peninsula of Wirral was during this time granted for settlement by an agreement with ^thelfled. But Ingemund collected an army of Norwegians and Danes and attacked Chester, which was both an excellent harbour and a fortified town defended by a garrission that Ji]thelfled had placed there. The war is described most vividly by an Irish writer. The Danes that enlisted were presumably drawn from the people of the Five Boroughs, and we moreover receive the interesting piece of information that there were many Irishmen in the army of the Norwegians, that < the Norse had many an Irish foster9on». Tempted by the Anglo-Saxons these might possibly be led to turn traitors to the Danes, but they would not desert their Norwegian friends. The attack on Chester was frustrated, but the Norwegians kept their colony in Wirral. A few years after Chester was for a short but who got assistance from Wales time occupied by the Dane Leofred was recaptured by Edward. We have no information of fresh attacks on Chester, but some time later we find the town governed by , from which it may be inferred that it was practically a Norwegian colony. The port and the trade must have led to a peaceful Norwegian occupation, while the Anglo-Saxons were still holding the town as a fortress. The defeat of Tettenhall in 911 was followed by an Irish attack on the Norwegians in England in 912, as has already be'en mentioned. The expedition was a complete failure, but is of historical interest as intimating that the Ivar family was still firmly established in Northumbria. Two kings of the family had fallen at Tettenhall, and were in all probability succeeded by the

—

—

7

—

Viking Antiquities.

—

—

Chapter

98

Vlll

Ragnvald who paid homage to Edward in 920." We encounter his name for the first time when he plundered Dunblane in Scotland in 912. In 914 he killed Bard, Ottar's son, in a naval engagement on the coast of Anglesey. In the same year he joined Sigtrygg Gale at Waterford to restore the Norwegian dominion in Ireland. He took part in the battle of Confey in 917. But the year after, in 918, he was back in Northumbria at the head of an expedition to the north, defeating Eadred, ruler of Bemicia, and fighting Constantine, King of the Scots, on Tynemoor. Gudrod, a descendant of Ivar's, and Earl Ottar and Asulv Krakabein are mentioned as the confederates of Ragnvald on this occasion.

I

am

inclined to regard the conquest of

York as connected with

and to conclude that, after his absence in Ireland, Ragnvald was forced to secure his kingdom both internally and externally. He must have taken York by assault, for we are told that many great persons in the town were killed or made their escape. This also led to the interventhe Lady of Mercia who incited the men of Alba and tion by JEthelfled the Britons to attack the towns of the Norwegians, which they sacked and destroyed. The Norwegians, in revenge, undertook an expedition into Strathclyde. In spite of these frictions, Ragnvald and ^^thelfled came to terms, iEthelfled promising Ragnvald her daughter in marriage. This compact is probably meant when it is recorded that York submitted to the Lady of Mercia. Finally, Ragnvald was one of the kings who paid homage to Edward as to this expedition to the north,

—

—

their overlord in 921.

He

died in that same year.

Ragnvald was succeeded on the throne by Sigtrygg Gale who had led the conquest of Dublin, and shortly after returned to England,' where he occupied the port of Devonport in Chester in 920. He was probably in Northumbria before the death of Ragnvald, first as an earl, comes,* then king himself. The alliance with England was kepd, and indeed made closer after Edward's death in 924. On January 30th 925 ^thelstan and Sigtrygg met in Tampworth. Sigtrygg was baptised, and now the family alliance, refused in the case of "

bria

Most modern authors make Ragnvald out to be a roving Viking, invading NorthumCollingwood, Scandinavian Britain, p. 127. and conquering York in 918 or 919.

A

But the sources agree very little on this point, The Lindistarne annals have it that Ragnvald became master of Northumbria at the time of Bishop Cutheard (900 915) according to the Anglo-Saxon chronicle, he took York in 923; according to Simeon of Durham, in 919. It is certain that Ragnvald died in 921, having borne rule in Northumbria for a considerable time. The conquest of York, recorded in several sources, may very well have Kendrick,

History of the Vikings,

see Steenstrup:

Normannerne

p. 251.

III, pp.

22

f.

—

;

—

taken place on Ragnvald's return from his Irish campaign,

when he had been away

several years, and was perhaps compelled to reconquer

kingdom.

'his

—

for

The Ulster nowhere recorded '

Annals of 919: Expulsus a Dublinio per postestatem divinam. It is Most that he was expelled by his successor Gudrod, who was also of the Ivar family. probably the change was a practical arrangement to secure the possessions of the family ' in Ireland and England. From coins bearing the inscription Siiric comes.

Chapter Ragnvald, was

way

this

the

at last established,

Ivar family

VIII

99

Sigtrygg marrying ^thelstan's sister.

In

was formally acknowledged as the recognised

York, while Sigtrygg's brother, Gudrod, reigned as king of Dublin, The Northumbrian Viking kingdom comprised central England from the Tyne to the Humber, across the country from the Irish to the North Seas. On

dynasty

in

bordered on the territory earlier belonging to the Five Boroughs, in the English kingdom, on the north, on Celtic Strathclyde and Anglo-Saxon Bemicia, the latter still imder local princes. The kings Ragnvald and Sigtrygg are in Irish sources, both of them, called kings over the black and the white stramgers, i. e. over Danes and Norwegians. The Irish authors then express a surprisingly correct notion of the nationalities;

the south

but

it

now merged

mixed colonisation was a distinctive characteristic of Northumbria. There time no signs of internal dissensions between the two nations in the country." The internal affairs of Northumbria at this time are as a whole little known. We have some items of information conn^ected with the bishop's see at Chester-le-Street where the shrine of St. Cuthbert had at length found its resting-place after the flight from Lindisfame. Ragnvald allotted land belonging to St. Cuthbert's estate to his chieftains Skule and Olav Ball. The latter was a pagan, and refused to pay interest and tribute to Bishop the

is at this

Cutheard, one day even insulting the saint in the very church, threatening the Christians with oaths swo^m by his own strong gods, Thor and Odin. But when leaving the church he fell dead on the threshold.

The same record

also

men-

Ragnvald assigned land to two Anglo-Saxons, Esbrid, son of Edred, brother. Earl Eltan, who had distinguished themselves in the battle of and his Corbridge on his expedition to Bemicia. Sigtrygg Gale died in 926. We hear of no son of his by his wife, the English princess, whereas we know of five elder sons, Gudrod, Harald, Olav Cuaran, Sigfred, Auisl. But ^thelstan at once took action, occupying Northumbria, so that the sons of Sigtrygg had to make their escape from the country, Olav going to Scotland, Gudrod to Ireland. English historians mostly look upon this event as the final reunion of Northumbria with England. But the Ivar dymasty did not give up its claim at tions that

the first blow.

.(Ethelstans's interference, in fact, started a struggle for the

kingdom of York, that lasted for nearly thirty years, a struggle that was only ended by the free-will election of Edgar as king of Northumbria in 959. Gudrod of Dublin was the first to come to the rescue, from the main seat of the Ivar family, ^thelstan drove him northwards into Scotland, where he was deli"

I.e.,

Steenstrup, very decisively, takes this view, p.

251,

maintains that the Norwegian

the part of the Danes. This the kings from Dublin

as they

is in

were

itself

very

in reality a

were by English expansion.

Normannorne

III, p. 94,

while Kendrick, resistance on

invasion encountered a furious iniproljalile, l)ecause the

Norwegian invasion and

valuable reinforcement for the Danes, threatened

Chapter

100

Vlll

vered up by King Constantine. But King Gudrod escaped, and levied a fresh army, together with a chieftain named Thorfred. They laid siege to York, but were again defeated by jEthelstan. Thorfred, on his flight was drowned in a ship-wreck.

up

to the king.

Gudrod suffered much hardship and at last delivered himself He was well received and feasted, but remained only four days

with the king; then he returned to his ships, live in the

water like a

his death in 934.

fish;

.

In spite of

:

the old sea-rover, accustomed to

Gudrod returned to Dublin, reigning there till his failure it seems that his cause had gained

general favour in Northumbria, for Jilthelstan ravaged the country, buting a large booty among his men. The fortifications of York

The people had

distri-

were

promise to abandon their pagan gods, ^thelThis appears with sufficient stan now recognised no king of Northumbria. cleameSiS from the fact that York was not mentioned when he received the homage of all the neighbouring princes, the kings of Wales, Scotland, and Bemicia. They swore oaths of allegiance and gave hostages at a mieeting in Eamont on the 12th of July 926. Gudrod, surely, had been forced to promise ^thelstan to give up all claims on England, which promise was indeed kept But in that year, contest began once more, as the until his death in 934. younger pretenders did not feel bound by the obligation enforced upon Gudrod. Olav Cuaran, son of Sigtrygg Gale, had found a refuge in Scotland and had married a daughter of King Constantine. It seems quite certain that here an attack was being prepared, which ^thelstan anticipated by an expedition into the far north of Scotland, his fleet sailing even to Caithness. Constantine had to yield, sending his son to be brought up in England. During the following three years Olav Cuaran prepared a second attempt to recover his father's kingdom, and in 937 he sailed with at fleet of 625 ships into the Humber, and conquered York. He wais joined by a force from Dublin led by his cousin Olav, son of Gudrod; by others from Limerick (under Harek, son The of Bard), from Waterford, the Hebrides, the Orkneys, and Scotland. Britons caused the success this initial routed, and local English levies were of Stratliclydfe to come in as his allies, and a rising to take place in Wales. The blow seems to have come as a oompletie surprise; for ^thelstan tried to gain time by negotiations, while raising the forces from' the whole of England. A storm was gathering, to burst in the battle of Brunanburh, once more one of the great decisive events, loioked upon by posterity as a day of mark in the history of England. The fight is described in English and Irish annals, and sung in the poetry of the time. A record of the battle is found also in the Icelandic saga of Egill Skallagrimsson, Egill and his brother Thorolv with three hundired men fighting on the English side. It is here called the battle of VinheiBr (Winaheath) by the Vinuskogar (Winawoiod), and the saga without a doubt treats of the same battle as Brunanburh, though the saga does not

demolished.

to

Chapter

VllI

quite agree with the chronology of English history.

101

The description

of the

interwoven with romantic legends. One evening before the battle King Olav had stolen into the English camp as a spy, disguised as a harper; he was recognised, but not betrayed, by a Dane who had formerly been in his service, ^thelstan was warned however, and moved his camp to another site, while bishop Werstan of Sherborne came to the appointed place and battle is

was cut down with all his men by the Norwegians. Two days later the battle was fought from morning to night, ending in a complete victory for the English. Sigtrygg and Auisl, the sons of SLgtrygg Gale, were killed besides three and also a son of King Constantine, Olav himself being state that uncounted thousands of Norse were killed there, King Olav escaping with only a few of his men; but a great number fell on the Anglo-Saxon side, too, among others ^Ivin and ^thelvin, ^thelstan's cousins. Never before had such a sanguinary battle been fought on English ground, and the triumph was the greater. 'Heaven granted victory to the Anglo-Saxons' are the words in a letter from the following year. jEthelstan the Victorious, as he is called in Norse tradition, was the third of the great kings who reunited England. He was always victorious, and his great achievement was the subjection of Northumbria, just as Alfred had saved Wessex, and Edward had gained East Anglia and the Five Boroughs. In the years of peace preceding Brunanburh ^thelstan's rule was characterised by a policy of reconciliation between the different races inhabiting England. Scandinavian earls (duces) participate in governmental acts at 'things' and other meetings; they certify legal decisions, even such as concern purely English affairs. Archbishop Odo of Canterbury was of Danish origin; Bishop Wulfstan of York was an Anglo-Saxon but in sympathy with the Scandinavian settlers, ^thelstan is seen to have called Scandinavians to his court, and to have established firm and peaceful connections with the Viking settlements.'". We would again recall Egill Skallagrimsson's relations to the king and his poem Aflalsteinsdrapa composed in honour of the king. Abroad, too, he evidently followed a policy of peace and alliance with foreign princes. According to later tradition, he had as a youth visited Gorm the Old of Denmark, and the reports of mutual gifts, interchanged between him and Harald Fairhair are common knowledge. The Norwegian Kings' sagas tell us of English messengers bringing with them a sword as a gift from jEthelstan to Harald, and William of Malmesbury informs us that Harald's gift to Jilthelstan was a ship with golden prow and purple sails, her gunwales lined with a continuous row of shields inlaid with gold. The messengers delivering the ship were named Halgrim and Osfrid. They were received in royal state in York, and rewarded with gifts. A French mission, too, on kings, seven earls,

saved by

'"

flight.

Steenstrup:

The Ulster Annals

Normannerne

III, pp.

66 and U9

f.

C h

102

one occasion came

to

a

})

t

e r

V

I

II

^thelstan in York (936).

It is

evident that he frequently

resided in Northumbria, probably for the double

purpose of securing his northern frontier. watching the dominion and of At his court a son of the King of Norway was brought up and baptised, the Here also lived his. sister Eadgiva, later King Hakon, sumamed the Good the queen of Charles the Simple, with her son who was later to become King Lewis IV of France; the exiled prince .Alan of Birittany found a refuge with ^thelstan, and a son of Constantine, King of the Scots, was also brought up By the marriage of his three sisters ^thelstan became the brotherhere. in-law of the Emperor Otto, of Hugh of Burgundy, and of Lewis of Aquitaine. .

were evidently guided by a far-sighted policy of peace. ^thelstan died in 939 and was succeeded by his brother Edmund, then at the age of 18, who had already distiniguished himhelf at Brunanburh, and was afterwards to prove himself a very energetic king. But the succession caused trouble. The two namesakes, Olav Cuaran and Olav, son of Gudrod, suddenly appeared in Northumbria where they received homage as kings, in York. The Danes of Mercia, possibly of East Anglia too, joined hands with them. Olav Cuaran marched southwards against the Five Boroughs, besieged Northampton and conquered Tamworth. The armies met at Leicester, but a peace was negotiated. Olav was christened and loaded with rich gifts, and received Northumbria, even enlarged towards the south, while Edmund is praised in a contemporary poem for saving the Five Boroughs. We may be sure that the cession of Northumbria on this occasion was only made on the condition of Olav recognising Edmund as his over-king. The two kings named Olav seem to have divided the country between 'them, but Olav, son of Gudrod, died immediately after and was succeeded by his brother Ragnvald, who was baptised too, and All these steps

included in the peace with Edmund, through the intervention of Archbishop Wulfstan of York. But after the lapse of only a few years, the Norwegians are said to have broken the peace, and Edmund forced both kings, Olav and Ragnvald, to leave the country (944). He brought Norwegian Cumberland to subjection, and concluded an alliance with Scotland. Edmund then kept Northumbria in hand undisturbed till his death in 946, and this time the demise of the crown took place without any commotion. Eadred, the third brother, received the homage of all in 947 without any interference that we know of, on the part of the Ivar family. But in the following year occurred like a bolt from the blue the accession of Eric Bloodaxe to the throne of York. The Anglo-Saxon chronicle records in 948 that King Eric came to Northumbria and that every-

body deserted Eadred and paid homage

"

to

Eric."

Eadred countered the

Concerning Eric's stay in England there are, as is well known, many vexed questions. by Norse sagas are unanimous in stating that Eric was appointed Earl of Northumbria

Chapter

Vlll

103

defection by a cruel expedition through the country, meeting with a reverse, however, in a fight against Eric at Ceasterford near Yorlc. The Northumbrians, all the same, were frightened and sued for reconciliation against the payment of fines. Eric had to leave the country in 949. Then it was once more the turn of Olav Cuaran, who had in the meantime become king of Dublin. He was assisted by his kinsmen in Scotland, who invaded the country from the north, through Bemicia, and he did, in fact, win the country, also assisted, it seems, by his friend Bishop Wulfstan of York, who was now taken prisoner and kept in captivity by Eadgar. Olav Cuaran remaimed in York during three troubled years, when he had again to withdraw to Dublin (952), expelled by the Northumbrians themselves. Then we meet once more witli Eric Bloodaxe as king during two years; but we have no information as to how this came to pass. Eadred again took action, and Eric had to leave the country for the last time, the Northumbrians reconciling the king by promises

and gifts. Eric retreated westwards, to the border between Cumberland and Westmoreland. The chronicle contains a very brief record to the effect that the coimt Asulv played him false, and he was killed at Stanmoor by Maccus, Olav's son. With him also fell his son Harek and his brother Ragnvald, likewise the Orkney Earls Amkell and Erlend. The commemorative poem Eiriksmal, which Queen Gunhild caused to be composed in his memory, bears witness that great

numbers were

killed in the battle.

Eric was the last Scandinavian king of Northumbria, and Eadred was uncontested sole king of all England during his last year. On his death in

were even more closely attached tO' the king than was a most unworthy before. calling in his younger rebellion, boy. Northumbria and the Danelaw rose in

955, the Viking settlemenlis

His successor, Eadred's elder son, Eadwig,

^Ihelstan

to

defend the country against Vikings; but this

chronicles during the reign of -•Ethelstan. 948.

Eric

is,

is

however, mentioned once before,

viz. in a

all in

English

for the first

time in Cndror,

not mentioned at

The chronicles mention Eric

foreign writing, the

Vila

.S.

where it is stated that this saint visited Kiaig Donald in Cumberland, proceeding from there to York to King Eric, ad regem Erichium in Euroacuni urbeni (Sleenstrup: Noniannerne III, The text, however, provides no sufficient ba.'e for the dating of Eric's first arrival p. 82). (Historisk Tidsskrift, Oslo, in England, as has been urged by Professor Halvdan Koht. rely upon the brief, confidently we may femte rekke, VI, 19'27, p. 153). On this matter concise information of the English chronicles as being the most authentic.

ance in England

is

probably

to

be accounted

tor in the following

way:

—

Eric,

Eric's appear-

when expelled

from Norway, first went to Denmark, as .4 grip has it, thense wiUi a fleet to England. His queen, be it remembered, was the sister of King Harald Bluetooth. Eric then, represents a Danish claim on Northumbria based on the traditions of the sons of Ragnar Lodbrok, and of the kings Gudrod and Cnut. The first time he was expelled, he may be inferred to have sought assistance in Orkney, where his daughter Ragnhild was married to Arnfin, son of the Earl. The two earls Arnkell and Erlend, indeed, were among his followers at Stanmoor, where they fell.

Chapter VIU

104 brother, Eadgar, in 959.

It

who subsequently became king over

was the Viking

states that had, as

it

were,

the whole of England

made him

king; and

indeed, contemporary English writings contain positive complaints

of the

growing Northumbrian influence in England. We find men bearing Scandinavian names in the highest positions, such as Thord Gunnarsson from York, the king's house-steward and commander. Eadgar's policy aimed at reconciliation, and more particularly so with the Scandinavian elements of the populamade a reproach against him that < Danish habits», It was even tion. particularly the habit of hard drinking, were gaining ground in England, that people became drunk in the evening even in the king's own hall. On the the Danes combed their other hand to mention a more sympathetic aspect hair every day, took baths every Saturday, and changed their under-clothing frequently so that they were held in high favour by the ladies. If this seemed

—

—

—

surprising to their contemporaries, as

it

did,

we may venture

to

inference that the later English piartiality for baths and washing,

draw the is

not an

handed down from the Viking times. peace, peace from attacking Vikings as

Anglo-Saxon At last England had won a time of well as from the internal struggles of petty kings. characteristic, but a heritage

CHAPTER

IX.

THE NORTHMEN AND THE PRANKISH EMPIRE 9TH CENTURY.

IN

THE

Viking attacks on France known to history-were not aimed at the coasts of the North Sea and the British Chaimel, but at the Atlantic coast in Aquitaine and on the Loire. We have here to do with quite casual <:straiidi.e. rapid victualling descents, of the same kind as the simultaneous hogg

The

first

,

The

recorded in the attack was repulsed, 150 of the pirates falling on

accidents on the coasts of the Irish Sea.

when From about 814 we have records

Aquitaine in 799, the shore.

stery of St. Philibert

on the

isle of

first

landing

is

of repeated visits to the

Noirmoutier

at the

mouth

monaand

of the Loire,

on the island on Re off La Rochelle. As has been convincingly shown by Walther Vogel,' these raids manifestly started from Ireland, following the well-known old sea-route to the mouths of the great French rivers, the Garonne and the Loire. It was along the same route that the Bronze Age tin trade from Cornwall to the continent had been conducted, and in the 6th and 7th centuries this route is still stated to have been the regular line of connection between Ireland and France." We may accordingly take it for granted that these first sporadic Viking raids on the coasts of France were an extension of the early Norwegian voyages of exploration from Scotland

to the convent

to Ireland

done

and Wales.

in Ireland, to

bud by the

But

in

France the

first

expeditions led, as they had

They were nipped

nothing beyond quite casual attempts.

system of coastal defence organised by Charles the Great and kept up during the first part of the reign of Louis the Pious. The entrance of the Northmen into French history was to proceed along lines very different from those followed by the gradually increasing Norse in the

efficient

invasion of Scotland and Ireland.

begin

till

The expeditions

a generation later and from the very

to Frisia

first this

and Gaul did not

invasion of the conti-

nent had the character of a political and military action of considerable that some casual strength. It is quite possible as suggested by Einhard attempts were made at disembarkments on the Frisian islands about 800, but

—

'

Die Noniiannen und das Frankische Reich, pp. 64—65.

—

'

See above,

p. 19.

Chapter

106

IX

must have shown that the empire was adequately armed The countries of the Scandinavian North, on the other hand, anid more particularly Denmark, had for a long time been in close ooimection with harbours and marts on the Rhine. There was in the Prankish empire free admission for peaceful travels, trade, and immigration. As mentioned above (p. 5) there must have been no inconsiderable immigration of Danes in these tracts at the beginning of the 9th century. The state of affairs in Weist Francia were not favourable for enterprises like the first Viking raids, which were in fact nothing but pioneering attempts to prepare the settlement of Norwegians in Scotland and Ireland. In the main, no doubt, contemporary opinion as well as later French historiains are right in holding that it was political complications between the empire and the kings in Denmark that gave the first impetus to the attacks of the Northmen. We have, by way of introduction, touched on the earlier Danish connections with Frisia, which also led to the hostile encounters with the Franks in 512 and 565. When Frankish dominion had been established in Holland for the second time, the occupation was followed by the mission of Willibrord to convert the Frisians surely for political reasons and it can hardly have been accidental that Willibrord extended his activity to Denmark, without sucoes.s, by the way. The attempted conversion was intended to be a means of pacifying these troublesome neighbours of the kingdom. From similar motives Charles the Great in 782 exhorted Paulus Diaconus to go as a missionary to convert the Danish king Sigfred, and Alcuin himself, in a letter from England, asks whether there was any hope of converting the Danes. Liudger, who preached the faith to the Frisians, was fully aware that the christianisation of Denmark was needed to secure the mission in Frisia and Saxony. He himself was willing to go, too, but did not obtain the in that case the result

for repulsing such breaches of the lawful peace and order.

—

—

;

—

king's consent.

The Franks had by this time advanced their frontier to the Elbe, so that they were in a position to menace Danish territory in Jutland at close quarters.

The

ten years'

war against the Saxons was

certainly

a

measure

of

defensive policy to secure a dangerous borderland; but it was carried through with unheard-of severity, and Danish interests were implicated when Widukmd, the chieftain of the Saxons, fled to Denmark. At the diet of 782 there

was an embassy from King Sigfred

of Jutland.

aggressive steps on the part of the Franks.

But new risings led to new In 804 the Saxon population

north of the Elbe was forcedly transplanted to Rhineland, their original home being given to a Slav people, the Abodrits. King Godfred of Jutland must

have felt the menace, the Franks having now approached his own frontiers; and he took up a position at Sliesthorp, by Sleswick, with army and fleet,

Chapter IX

107

while at the same time the emiperor was encamped at Hollenstedt on the south In the following years negotiation alternated with camof the Elbe.

bank

tracts. King Godfred fortified his works of defence at Danevirke, the Franks built a castle at Itzehoe as an outpost north of the Elbe. This last step, which was regarded as an open challenge, made Godfred

paigns in the border

declare war on the emperor in 810, when he sent a fleet of 200 ships to Frisia. There was plundering on the islands as well as on the continent, the militia was beaten in several engagemients, and the Frisians paid a tribute of 100 pounds of silver to obtain peace. This was no Viking expedition, but a measure of regular warfare, which however was not pressed further, as Godfred was murdered the same year. Charles the Great at once took energetic measures towards the building of warships, enforcing earlier decrees about naval service and coastguards, and after the Emperor's death in 814 the defensive system was still kept in good order. At the same time the Franks devoted constant attention to internal affairs in Denmark, no doubt with a view to securing the empire against fresh attacks. During the contentions for the throne during the years immediately following, the Emperor supported the exiled king, Harald; a Frankish army was in Jutland in 815, a Danish fleet ravaged on the banks of the Elbe two years later, and in 819 a peace was concluded providing that Harald was to divide the kingdom with his rivals. In 823 Archbishop Ebo of Reims went north to open the mission among the Danes. His plan was submitted to the Emperor, and approved by the Pope; but the attempt came to nothing. In the sam© year there were imperial ambassadors in Denmark, presumably on account of fresh internal disputes. Once more King Harald was expelled; and during the years 825 and 826 we see his antagonists trying to obtain peace and alliance with the Emperor. Then it was that Harald himself decided to go in for Christianity in Denmark. He was baptised amidst great solemnities, with his family and his retinue, in Mainz (826), and was granted the fief of Riistringen at the mouth of the Weser. Returning to Denmark by sea he brought with him two monks, Anskar and Autbert, who had taken upon themselves the task of preaching the faith to the pagans of the North. They had received the commission from the Emperor himself; again the mission was a measure of Frankish policy. Harald, all the same, did not get permanent possession of a realm in his homeland; it was, on the contrary, his rival, King Horik, who entered into close and amicable relations with the imperial court.

From

the frequent interventions

we may

infer that the imperial court

well informed of the state of things in Denmark.

It

is

was

therefore a very

important fact that, at that time, we never hear of the empire being visited by Vikings from Denmark, while energetic diplomatic remonstrances were

C h a p

108

t

e r

IX

once when the Danish attacks were launched in 834. The Northmen on the Loire, then, evidently did not come from Denmark; they were Norwegians from Ireland, as has already been shown abo've (p. 19). Similarly we find a Norwegian expedition when in 820 a fleet of 13 ships from Nord-

made

at

mannia

vainly attempted to disembark in Flanders and on the Seine.

incident also shows that the Frankish' system of coastal defence

was

still

This

kept

and was easily capable of repulsing a diescent of raiders. Not till 834 did the Danish Viking fleets begin their attacks, and evidently

efficient,

in connection with political events within the empire.

was humiliated and led captive by his three

In 833 the

sons, Lothar, Louis the

Emperor German,

and Pippin. Lothar usurped the imperial throne, but his two brothers delivered their father, making him Emperor anew in 834. During this struggle between father and sons a Danish fleet sailed to Frisia, ravaged part of the coimtry, and went via Utrecht to Dorestad which was blackmailed and partly burnt down. Some of the inhabitants were killed, others were taken on board the ships as captives.

As we

shall see later on,

it

seems a

fair inference that

Lothar himself caused this attack to be made, as a move in his fight with the Emperor. It is also significant that Archbishop Ebo of Reims fled that same year seeking refuge among the Northmen. He had sided against the Emperor, taking the part of Lothar against his brothers. Now that he had to place his person in safety, he went to the Northmen, having Northmen in his train, too, who knew the rivers and the ports. He was later on arrested at Hamburg, having maybe sought refuge with King Harald in Riistringen. During the following years risings and fights continued in the Empire, and the Danish attacks on Frisia were repeated every summer. In 835 Dorestad was blackmailed, many Vikings being killed however. The next year a fleet appeared in the Scheldt, Antwerp and Witla were burnt to the groimd, and Dorestad was blackmailed, while the Frisians paid a ransom to be In the following year, when the Emperor had begun his march on spared.

Rome, the Danish fleet landed on the coast of Walwas taken by surprise, Coiuit Eggehart fell, likewise the Danish chieftain Hemming (son of Halvdan), who had settled there, and many others; Walcheren was cruelly ravaged, Dorestad blackmailed for the fourth time (837). The Emperor had to break off his Italian campaign to march his army north to Nymwegen. The Franks were in no doubt as to where the enemy came from. In the excitement caused by the attack of 836 Danish ambassadors from King Horik were murdered in Cologne. The year after Horik sent an embassy to the diet of Worms declining all responsibility and insisting on the punishment His request was carried into effect by of the murderers of his messengers. a planned expedition to

cheren.

The

coastal guard

special commissioners

who proceeded

with great severity.

Later on in the

C same year another Danish

h a

eimbasisy

p

t

IX

e r

came

to

109

Emperor

the

at

Aix-la-Chapello

to report that the king had ordered the execution of the pirates that had ravaged in Frisia. At the same time, it is true, he requested the Emperor to pay weregeld for the persons executed on his demand/ In the autumn of 838 Danish messengers came once more, to Attigny, reporting that Horik had caused the leaders of the raids to be arrested and had ordered their execution, this time, however, demanding in return the cession of the lands of the Frisians and the Abodrits, thus a repetition of the claim made by King Godfred, when he had made war on Charles the Great in 810. The mere fact that such a claim could be made, reveals the weakness of the Empire at the close of the reign of Louis the Pious. In spite of all difficulties the Emperor had done his best to keep up the coastal defence system. It was constantly controlled that the decrees were complied with and after the last calamities the case was submitted to examination by a diet assembled at Nymwegen with a view to taking proceedings against defaulting officials. In their place new counts and abbots were appointed to superintend the defence, and the construction of ships was resumed. In the following year (838), too, a powerful militia was raised for the defence of the coimtry, and in the year after that we hear that forces were mobilised to avert attacks made by Danes and Slavs. The Empire of Charles the Great still retained its military Nor can Danish attacks on Frisia in the years 834 and 837 be energy. regarded as ordinary raids, they should rather be looked upon as operations closely connected with the Frankish civil war. The appearance of the North-

men on

the scene evidently served Lothar's purposes in his struggle against

his father the

Emperor, and

hisi

brothers, and

we

are inclined to believe that

We have seen already Archbishop Ebo, sought refuge with the Northmen. no The contemporary West Frankish annalist Prudentius of Troyes friend of Lothars's, it is true may probably be read as conveying a direct accusation in the same direction. In 841, when Lothar had succeeded to the empire, he records that he gave Walcheren and other neighbouring tracts in fief to Harald who with other Danish pirates had during some years inflicted so much suffering on Frisia and other Christian coasts for his sake and to the hurt of his father. This passage cannot very well be understood otherwise than implying that Harald was positively rewarded for the Viking expeditions to Frisia when Lothar had come into power.^ It is probable that

the Danes

were

actually called in as his auxiliaries.

that his friend.

—

—

The passage in Prudentius, 836, has been convincingly e.xplained by Walther Vogel, * Originally pointed out by Norniannen und das Frankische Reich, p. 71. Walther Vogel, Die Norniannen P. A. Munch: Det norske Folks Historie I, I, p. 421. und das Frankische Reich, p. 77 finds tiiis view iiuite i)Iausiblo. liut insufficiently sub'

Die

—

stantiated.

110

Chapter IX

mutual relations of Danish princes, too, had something to do with the alliance. It was to this Harald that the Emperor had first entrusted the task of introduc-

Denmark, investing him at the same time with the fief of Harald was not successful; it was his adversary. King Horik, who finally became the friend and ally of the Emperor. This ing Christianity into

Rustringen on the Weser.

may, likely enough, explain that Harald attached himself

to

Lothar when the

rebellion broke out, receiving afterwards a fief in Frisia as his reward.

The

expeditions themselves had also brought a rich harvest of plunder to all that enlisted for service; they thus incited to fresh adventures, in spite of Horik's efforts to keep his obligations, and in spite of the risk of storm and shipwreck, which had destroyed the Danish fleet olf Frisia in 838. We have stopped to relate all these details because they are essential to obtaining a correct understanding of the expeditions undertaken from 834 to 837. These expeditions are something entirely different from the occasional plundering raids about the beginning of the century. The entry of the Danes was made in full military force, and in close connection with the political Their action was inspired by the example of King affairs of the empire. Godfred's war in 810, and is easily accoimted for by the intimate secular intercourse between Denmark and Frisia. The Northmen evidently made their first appearance as unruly mercenaries in the pay of King Lothar; they had their reward, which however only caused them to return at every favourable occasion during the troubled times that followed. The Emperor Louis the Pious died Lmexpectedly in Ingelheim near Mainz on the 20th of June 840, and nonie of his heirs thought for an instant of keeping to the division of the empire agreed upon the year before. Lothar evidently aimed at the imperial crown and supremacy over the whole teritory, Louis the German claimed all the land east of the Rhine including even the part previously reserved for Charles the Bald; and the two princes in Aquitaine, Pippin and Charles, rose to defend their rights. We need not, in this all the details of this complicated game of contending After a year filled with manoeuvres and intrigues the struggle terminated in the battle of Fontenay on the 25th of June 841, one of the most sanguinary in the history of that time. A contemporary writer may be right

connection, go into

forces.

enormous massacre of Prankish nobles on that day had its share in weakening the defence aigainst the Northmen. But the real danger was the temptation to draw in the foreigners as This once done, the Northmen would always auxiliaries in the civil wars. be ready to interfere, whenever intemal war was going on within the empire. A month before the battle of Fontenay, while Charles the Bald was advancing in saying that the

Louis against Lothar and Pippin, a Scandinavian fleet under Oscher (Asgeir) sailed up the Seine to Rouen, which was

to join his forces with those of

C h

a

p

t

e r

IX

111

down with its churches and monasteries. A couple of weeks later the Northmen burnt the monastery of Jumieges, while St. Vandrille was ransomed by the payment of 6 pounds of silver. The monks of St. Denis ransomed 68 captives for 26 pounds. When the royal commander Wulfhard appeared on the scene with a levy of mien, the Viking's had already sailed off (May 31). It should be noted that the attack on Rouen, like earlier attacks in Frisia, was made against Lothar's adversary, now Charles the Bald. At the same time we find the Danish King Harald among th© chieftains in Lothar's army, where he is mentioned as taking part in an engagement fought at Coblence It is under these circumstances a fair supposition that the in March 842. first expedition to the Seine was connected with Lothar's campaign. The surprise of Quentovic in May 842, while the war was still going on, was likewise a blow at Charles's part of the empire; but the Northmen, in this case, acted entirely in their roles as pirates seeking their booty wherever They had visited London; coming from there it might be most easily won. they arrived unexpectedly early one morning at Quentovic, which was sacked and blackmailed, whereupon they set sail for England again. In the following year (843), on the other hand, the Northmen were directly engaged in a local feud on the Loire between the two counts Rainald de Herbauge and Lambert fighting for the possession of the county of Nantes. Lambert had concluded an alliance with the duke of Brittany, while Rainald held the country in fief under Charles the Bald. Rainald was killed in battle, but Nantes was still unwilling to accept Lambert as its master, when a Scandinavian force in 67 ships sailed up the Loire and entered the town by surprise, without any resistance being offered, during the celebration of St. John's Day. Nantes was for a whole day given up to plundering, killing, and burning, and after that submitted to Lambert. Contemporary chronicles report that the attack was made at Lambert's instigation, and it should be noted that, in this case too, the North-

burnt

mien acted in concert with enemies of Charles the Bald. We also receive the impression that the surprise of Nantes must have had a definitely planned object; for the Northmen did not carry their expedition further; they retreated to the island of

that

we

Noirmoutier

at

the mouth of the Loire.

get a piece of direct information about the

They are named Westfaldingi, which means on the Oslo

that

It is

on

this occasion

homeland of the Vikings. they were from Vestfold

After their expedition to Nantes they established themselves in Noirmoutier, where they built houses for the winter. fjord.

The year after (844) both Coimt Lambert and Duke Nominee of Brittany were at war against Charles the Bald, who was in the field fighting his nephew. Pippin of Aquitaine. The King was defeated in the battle of Lavaux and had to raise the siege of Toulouse, the very moment a Viking fleet sailed up the Garonne as far as the neighbourhood of the towTi. On this occasion

C

112

h a p

t

e r

IX

we may

reasonably suspect that the Northmen had been called in by The following year the King again had to face the In 845 the chieftain Regner conducted his fleet up the Seine,

too,

Charles's adversaries.

Northmen. approaching St. Denis, where the king had taken up his position with an army, which however was unable to stop the Vikings on their way to Paris. The inhabitants fled, and the town was sacked without any defence being attempted. Then followed a meeting in St. Denis of Charles the Bald and

Regner with other chieftains, resulting in the Northmen being paid 7000 pounds of silver to depart from the country, swearing by their gods and their arms never to return to the possessions of Charles the Bald except as his auxiliaries.

German was exposed to a and burning Hamburg. Immediately after we hear of a Frankish embassy at King Horik's court in Denmark, where they happened to witness the return of Regner from his expedition to Paris, and then, again, Danish messengers appeared at the diet of Paderborn in the same autumn. Booty and captives carried off to Denmark were delivered up, and for a long time to come peace reigned on the Eider frontier. In return, Lothar's possession, Frisia, was made to suffer. The Emperor, himself, while at Nymwegen, witnessed the burning down of Dorestad in 846; and another embassy was sent to remonstrate with King Horik on behalf of all the three Frankish kings in conjunction. During this initial stage the appearance of the Northmen in the Frankish empire are easily accounted for by political causes, by frictions on the frontier between Jutland and Saxony, by ancient Danish interests in Frisia, and by From a Frankish point of view the civil wars between Frankish princes. expeditions of the Northmen so far must indeed have seemed events of subordinate importance compared to the interests at stake in the struggle about the imperial crown and the division of the empire. But this was soon to be altered. The very expeditions had fostered in Denmark a new generafor its own sake, without and its adventures tion craving for war might justify new cruises. occasion that political dreaming of waiting for a Leaders and men were already trained in fights against Frankish troops, and knew that booty was always to be gained, either in the pay of contending parties, or else by acting as free-booters on their own account. The Northmen in this century became a permanent military force within the Frankish empire, a veritable power with regular armies imder competent comIn the same year the kingdom of Louis the

Danish

attack, a strong fleet surprising

—

—

manders.

The

internal

statei

of the

empire, too, constantly offered fresh

enjoyed relative peace under Danish rule, the chieftain Rorik being nominally a Frankish vassal. Brittany was entirely independent, alternately at war and in alliance with West opportunities

for

bold

adventures.

Frisia

C

h a p

i

e r

IX

113

Francia and the Northmen.

Aquitaine, being an independent kingdom, was a source of everlasting trouble, disputes about the throne, and consequent

campaigns, offering the Northmen ample opportunities of reaping advantages for themselves. Pippin of Aquitaine was at last wholly dependent on a hired army of Northmen; when he besieged Toulouse in 864, he abandoned his Christian faith, taking part in pagan sacrifices in his camp.

Space will only allow us a very rapid sketch of the subsequent events. calamities began to occur, when the chieftain Oscher stormed and sacked

New

Bordeaux in 848. In 851 he established himiself on the island of Giselle in the Seine not far from Rouen, ravaging the land in a wide circumference, destroying the monasteries of

Vandrille and

Gemers, likewise the cathedral town of Beauvais. Oscher went to Bordeaux once more; but in the Seine he was succeeded by a new fleet imder Gudrod (son of Harald), who wintered there and pushed farther on into the country. He was joined by Sigtrygg commanding a fleet of 252 ships. Gudrod was bought off with silver, but Sigtrygg remained, operating for some time on the Loire, and returning afterwards to the Seine. To this district came yet another army, under Bjom Ironside, one of Regner's sons. They ravaged extensively, and wintered in strongly fortified camps. In the Christmas of 856 Paris was sacked for the second time. During these years Vikings came from the Loire too, pushing on towards Tours; Blois and Angers were burnt down, and Chartres was taken by assault. King Charles the Bald repeatedly took the field against the Northmen, showing however an incredible lack of energy in these enterprises. He never managed to inflict any serious defeat on the Northmen, and he seems to have preferred negotiations and payment of ransoms. The discontent among his own men rose beyond control. In 858, when King Charles had begun a slow siege of Bjom Ironside on Giselle, messengers from the French nobility went to Louis the German in Frankfort, inviting

him

to

St.

come

St.

to the rescue of their distressed country.

This only led to new misfortunes, as Louis wanted to take the opportunity of adding West Francia to his own kingdom; so all forces were now called in

between him and Charles. For about a year the were left undefended, imtil Louis had at last been driven out. During these months the cathedral towns of Bayeux, Noyon, and Beauvais were captured, three bishops meeting their deaths at the hands of the Northmen. A fresh Viking army advanced on Amiens from the north, and along the coast against Therouanne. In the same year (860) the Northmen disembarked for the first time on the Mediterranean coast of Gaul, taking up permanent quarters on the island of Camargue at the mouth of the Rhone, and ravaging far on into the country. Such towns as Nimes, Aries, Valence were visited. to take part in the fight

coasts

8

—

Viking Antiquities.

114

Chapter IX

It was a fleet from the Loire, according to tradition led by Hasting, that had first touched at Spain, Morocco, and the Balearic Isles, and who, leaving the Rhone district, set sail for Italy, where they plundered the towns of Pisa and Luna. After another visit to Spain the fleet returned from a two years' cruise to the Loire. Some of the Vikings entered the service of the King of Brittany fighting against Count Robert of Anjou, who in return hired another Scandinavian fleet from the Seine for 6000 pounds of silver. During all this time a second army of Northmen had been established on the Seine ajs well, while a third army operated on the Somme under the chieftain Weland. King Charles entered into negotiations with him too, wishing to hire his assistance in driving the enemy away from the Seine. After some delay the agreement was at last made in the summer of 861 against King Charles's payment of 5000 pounds of silver and his fitting out the army with all necessary provisions. After a strict siege Weland was able to extort from his coimtrymen on Oiselle 6000 pounds of silver, whereupon both armies took up their winter quarters on French soil. Paris was visited twice, and Northmen wintered in the heart of France, in the provinces east of Paris. The Northmen had remained in the Seine tracts for seven years nuining when at length they really departed from the oourtry in the early spring of 862. But during the same year and the year after, a piratical expedition was, it should be added, sent up the Rhine from Dorestad to the' neighbourhood of Cologne. We have from these times a great number of detailed reports about the deeds of the Northmen in West Francia. They are infinitely monotonous. The fleets took up their positions in the rivers, by preference on an island where it was almost hopeless to attack them. The men procured horses (in spite of the prohibition of the sale of arms and horses to the Northmen) and operated with incredible swiftness, came on as surprising as a sudden storm, took the towns by assault, burnt down monasteries, robbed the land of animals and people. They carried with them all that could be carted away, great numbers of cattle and captives. The descriptions of eye-witnesses are appalling, and the calamities fell on all the western provinces alike, from Toulouse and Bordeaux to Paris, Flanders, and Frisia. During the campaigns of the civil war, however, the Prankish armies behaved not much better in their own country. The people was terror-struck. Government decrees were issued attempting to offer relief to the fugitives from afflicted districts, to prevent the homeless from becoming foot-pads, to remedy disturbances in the administration of justice and coinage. Nor can it be denied that Charles the Bald did his utmost to organise the defence, but his efforts were frustrated, chiefly by internal dissensions. The great of the country were actuated more by considerations of their own Dukes and counts fought interests than by obedience to the king's orders.

Chapter IX

115

each other for the possession of fiefs amd towns. When the peasants gathered for the purpose of offering resistance to the Northmen, they were put down by tlieir own noble lords, who would not suffer any peasant rising to take place.

In 862, however, an important defensive

work was carried out

for the

protection of Neustria, a fortified bridge being built at Pitres a short

way

above Rouen, as a barrier across the Seine against invading fleets. This was a great piece of work, carried out by levies of men from all the provinces; but it was hardly kept up as it ought to have been. fleets again lay in the Seine and in the Loire. A up the Seine unresisted, the Vikings taking up their position in an island near St. Denis. They sent messengers to Paris demanding wine, which however they did not get; they sacked the monastery of St. Denis, and every day they carried fresh plunder to their ships from the surrounding country. The year after they pushed on to Melun, where they defeated Count Robert of Anjou in an open fight; they were finally bought off by a payment of 4000 pounds of silver^ against their departure from the country, and the Vikings then joined their countrymen in England. The Northmen of the Loire, in the meantime, had plimdered Orleans in 865, and the year after Le Mans, on an expedition on which, returning home, they encountered the Franks at Brissarthe, where Robert of Anjou met his death. He was the most eminent Frankish commander of his time, entrusted with the defence of Neustria, and always in the field to protect the kingdom against the invasions. His death was a serious loss. In the years immediately following, the Northmen further sacked Bourges, Orleans, and Anjou. In the engagement at Brissarthe in 866 contemporary sources mention, for the first time, Hasting, whose name has been made famous by Dudo's chronicle of the ducal family of Normandy. By way of introduction, Dudo's chronicle describes Hasting as the very type of the pagan Viking, an incarnation

From 865 Scandinavian

fleet of 50 ships sailed

—

savagery and audacity, he surpasses everybody in cruelty towards church and priests, and the most incredible deeds are ascribed to him. On the Loire he was the chieftain who seized Angers. He conducted the expediof

Spain and into the Mediterranean. He had made a vow to conquer order to be called master of the world, but came to conquer Luna instead, mistaking that town for Rome. He took Marseilles and ravaged Burgundy, he appeared in Paris and in Flanders. His name is connected with every battle-field in the raids and campaigns of thirty years. The whole

tion to

Rome

in

" It is on the conclusion of this bargain that Walther Vogel (Die Norniannen und das Frankische Reich, p. 216) calculates that the total amount paid to the Northmen during twenty years (845—865) was a tribute of 16000 [jounds of silver, besides a sum that cannot be calculated paid in ransoming captives.

C

116 description

is

that Hasting

h a p

t

e r

fantastically exaggerated, but

was an

IX it

historical personage, that

remains none the less certain he really did exist. We have

—

on pretty good authority that Hasting fought at Brissarthe in 866, though absolutely He cannot be sure. was probably also doing we his share on the Loire, when, in 873, the Northmen besieged Angers, and he was probably master of Amboise some time after. Quite certain it is that he came to Tours in 862, ooncluding peace with King Louis III. He was, accordingly, one of the chieftains of the Loire Northmen. It is further beyond a doubt that he was acting on the Sommie, at Noyon, in 890, operating during the two subsequent years in Northern France, where he established himself in Amiens, and fought an unsuccessful battle against the East Franks, but gained a victory over the King Odo of West Francia. Between the years 892 and 895 he waged war in England, as already mentioned (p. 86); then returning to France, he left the continent never to reappear in the history of Western Europe." in its Latin form: There can be no doubt about the name of Hasting being Scandinavian, and several scholars have attempted to Alstenius trace him in Norse sources. Alexander Bugge mentions Hastein, a son of Earl Atle of Gaular; Hastein emigrated to the Scottish isles, and later on he took land in Iceland. There are certain historical points of resemblance in favour of this combination. Another hypothesis has been set forth with great learning by Henri Prentout, who has very plausibly identified Hasting as Hallstein, son of Thorolf Mostraskegg, a chieftain from Hordaland. This Hallstein, according to the Eyrbyggja saga, went with Bjorn, son of Ketil Flatnev (or Flatnose) to the Hebrides, where they stayed for two years. Both Hallstein and Bjorn afterwards went to Iceland about the time when Hasting disapi>ears from the recorded history of Western Europe. M. Prentout emphasises the fact that Hasting in Prankish sources is always mentioned in conjunction with Bjorn who joined him on various expeditions; and he urges this constant imion of the two names in support of his combination; for Hallstein of Moster sailed it

—

—

from Norway himself

may

may perhaps is

in the

company

of Bjorn, son of Ketil Flatnev.'

possibly have undertaken an expedition to

West Francia; we

identify the Catillus mentioned in Richer's history with him.

also important, in this connection, that Hasting

on the Loire scene of

°

Ketil Flatnev

Henri Prentout

action,

in his

from the very

first

which was the natural object of

Etude critique sur Dudon de

gives an elaborate critical exposition of

all

the sources of

St. tihe

all

It

appears expedi-

Quentin, Paris 1916, p. 47, On the

history of Hasting.

' As pointed out by resoilts oi M. Prentout's researches here. M. Prentout, little weight can be attached to William of Jumiege calling Hasting's comrade Bjorn Ironside and so making him out to be one of Ragnar's sons. Bjorn was a very common name, and a confusion might easily creep into the chronicles of later times.

whole we follow the

Chapter IX

117

from Ireland and the Hebrides. When, later, he had permanent quarters on the Somme, he still operated quite independently of the great army of Northmen from- England, which had simultaneously its headquarters in Flanders, although their campaigns in part affected the same tracts. As will be understood from these indications, it seems clear to me that the history of Hasting is a case of Norwegians starting from Scotland and Ireland to take tions

West Francia. some features already mentioned above in connecsettlement of the Orkneys (p. 26). We learned, when taken up

part in the expeditions to

We

would here

tion with the

recall

with those matters, that two sons of the chieftain Raghnall of Orkney first went to the British Isles with a large army collected from all quarters for the purpose of attacking Franks and Saxons, i. e. for the purpose of undertaking a Viking expedition to the Continent. the Mediterranean,

From

where they ravaged

The Vikings next

sailed into

in Africa.

the context in the chronicle

it appears, as pointed out by Steenstrup, be the expedition to the Mediterranean that started from the Loire in 860 and was according to later tradition led by Hasting. This expedition, accordingly, must have been joined by chieftains from Orkney commanding an army collected from all quarters, in this connection evidently meaning: from the Orkneys, the Hebrides, Scotland, Ireland. The Northmen on the Loire were in this case evidently recruited from the Norwegian

that this can only

settlements.

Charles the Bald had been crowned Emperor in Rome, in the Christmas and in the following year, after the death of Louis the German, he

of 875;

army to miake himself miaster of East Francia too. When he was already on his march eastwards, it was reported to the Emperor that a Viking fleet of 100 ships had sailed into the Seine. Once more we may raised a powerful

— closely connected as was with Denmark and — of having instigated an attack from the west on Charles'

fairly suspect East Francia

with Danish Frisia

dominions.

it

The Emperor, however, did not allow himself

Andemach he

to

be stopped.

At

suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of his nephew, Louis III

Charles' army was annihilated, and as regards the Northmen, there was nothing for it but to enter into negotiations buying them off by the payment of 5000 pounds of silver. During his unsuccessful expedi-

of East Francia.

tion to Italy the year after, the most powerful nobles of

West Francia rose

and the Emperor died on his hurried retreat in a poor hut in Savoy, in 877. His successor, Louis the Stammerer, was of weak health, dying two years later. He had not been able to do very much against the Loire Northmen who now recommenced hostilities on a larger scale. West Francia was in a state of disintegration. There were two heirs to the throne, both childien, Louis and Carloman; Aquitaine made itself indein rebellion,

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IX

pendent; and Louis of East Francia extorted the cession of Lorraine. At the same time a Scandinavian fleet, more dangerous than any that had yet menaced the Prankish Empire, effected a disembarkment in the Scheldt. It came from England. After the peace with King Alfred in 878, we heard of the

Northmen portioning out their conquests and of them evidently preferred the adventurous

settling life of

on English

soil;

but

many

continued Viking expedi-

A fleet gathered at Fulham, immediately above London, crossed the Channel and landed at Therouamie, another appeared farther North in Flanders, and both fleets united in the Here, then, was formed that large army which was to sweep as a Scheldt. devastating tempest over both the Prankish kingdoms during more than 13 years. Year af^ter year, summer and winter, the ravages of the army proceeded systematically over all the districts between the Rhine, the Moselle, the Saone, and the Loire. During the first year no resistance is mentioned, In 880 the the Frankiish princes being too busy with their internal affairs. at Thimeon and at army was twice defeated by Louis III of East Francia but immediately after it reappeared with unimpaired strength. Saucourt tions with all their chances of fresh conquests.

—

—

The army kept constantly growing, and there is an endless repetition of the same reports of plunderings, killings, and ajison. At the head of the army during these years were the kings Godfred and Sigfred, whose names are coupled with the greatest events in the Continental history of the Northmen, the conquest of Frisia and the siege of Paris.

CHAPTER GOTFRED In the late

IN FRISIA,

X.

AND ROLLO

autumn of 881 the Viking

IN

NORMANDY.

fleet sailed

up the Meuse, landing

Dutch and the place was extended into

at the 'Carlovingian royal castle of Ascloa, the present Asselt situated in

Limburg/

Here came the land army

a large fortified camp.

plundering expeditions

From known

visited Maestricht, Liege,

too,

this point, subsequently, issued the fiercest to the

and Mecheln.

The Northmen They went up the Rhine to Cologne,

history of the time.

which was sacked and burnt: down with

all

its

churches and monasteries;

thence they proceeded to Bonn and Aix-la-Chapelle, the residential town of Charlemagne, where they burnt down the imperial palace, sitabling their

horses in St. Mary's church. They now approached Mainz and Coblence, but turned aside to go against Trier, which fell on April the 5th 882; from there they marched on against Metz where Bishop Wala fell in an attempt at resistanse. The Northmen carried fire and sword over wide areas. Peasants who united to offer resistance were slaughtered like sheep, and defenceless

people were relentlessly murdered. In all likelihood, this Viking campaign had a political background too. Frisia, for several generations, had been go-vemed by Danish masters, though it was nominally held as a Frankish fief. The old King Rorik had shown great

managing to hold his position till his death in 875. His nephew Rodulf had been killed in 873 in a fight with the Frisians, whose leader, by It seems a fair inference the bye, was a Christian Dane settled in Frisia. that the inroad of the Viking army in 881 aimed at restoring and extending

ability in

The annals give different variants of the name, such as Assloha, Aschlo, &c. The place somewhat important part after the catastrophe of Dorestad in 864, but On account of the resembl.ince of the names, Ascloa was as a rule site is uncertain. •

evidently played a its

Walther Vo
Oudheidkundige Mededeelingen, nieuwe reeks XI, 1930.

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X

the position of the Danes in Frisia which was indsed successfully carried out. The moment was favourable. The King of East Francia, Louis III, was ill

in

bed

in Frankfort,

Charles of Swabia,

dying

sumamed

in

January 882.

the Fat,

was

His successor, his brother

just in Italy,

emperor, and later on in spring he went to

Worms

where he was crowned homage as King

to receive

In Worms the imperial army was called out in full force, from all his land, even from Lombardy, and at midsummer the Emperor began his march against the Northmen at Ascloa. Rarely had such enormous forces been seen as those now advancing to the attack. At the head of the Northmen were the kings Gotfred and Sigfred, and the earls Orm and Bals. They had drawn back the whole of their army inside the fortifications surrounding the royal castle of Ascloa, and the Emperor had The siege dragged on. Both armies were visited by to invest the place. pestilence in the summer heat, no decisive fight could be brought about, and finally negotiations about terms had to be resorted to. Frisia and other possessions earlier belonging to King Rorik were ceded to King Gotfred.- King Sigfred and Earl Orm were paid off against their promising to leave the country; they received 2080 pounds of silver, and loaded 200 ships with plunder and captives. The Frankish army was marched home and disbanded filled with profound discontent at such an inglorious campaign. Once more the land round the mouth of the Rhine obeyed a Danish ruler, but there is no question of Frisia having been conquered and lost for the empire. Gotfred was baptised and swore fealty to the Emperor; like his kinsman Rorik he received the country in fief against his doing his duty as defender of the Empire against foreigneips. Frankish counts, too, were subordinated to him. And the Viking army does not seem to have settled in the country to any noticeable extent after the conclusion of peace. It must have been a hired force, sailing off as soon as it was paid for its services. On the other hand of Eaist Francia.

Gotfred evidently watched for every opportunity of increasing his territory, just as did Rollo later on, in Normandy. He entered into connection with an ambitious Carlovingian prince, Hugh of Lorraine (a son of Lothar II) who Gotfred married Ms sister, Gisla, and was promised one half of the dominion that was to be won from the Emperor. However, the lords of East Francia proved to be on guard against fresh Viking inroads. Count Henry drew out an army that ravaged Deventer in the autumn of 882. A second army fortified itself in Duisburg on the Rhine in 883, only to suffer sanguinary defeats in a fight with Count Henry and the Archbishops of Mainz and Wiirzburg. Archbishop Rimbert of Bremen scat-

plotted against the Emperor.

tered the Northmen invading Frisia in 884. Hincmar of Reims: Frisiain aliosque honores quos Roricus habuerat. Walther Vogel; Die Normannen und das Frankische Reich, p. 292. "

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nowhere mentioned that Gotfred should have joined in these enternor that his possesisions should have been menaced by the Franks. But in 885 he himself took action in accordance with an agreement made with Hugh of Lorraine. An army was to be hired in Denmark, while at the same time Gotfred was to lay claim to an extension of his fief, by adding Coblence, Andemach, and Sinzig to it, on the plea that he wanted to procure wine, which his own land did not produce. The Emperor was in no doubt as to the real It is

prises,

intention.

It

was

stated that the satisfaction of these claims

would mean the

admittance of an enemy into the very heart of the Prankish state (in visceribus But the regni), and would become the basis oif new aggressive measures.

danger was avoided by diplomatic dexterity. Gisla consented to make a visit to Archbishop Willibert of Cologne, and simultaneously Gotfred was murdered at an interview with Count Henry, and his brother-in-law, Hugh, was caught by a ruse, blinded, and shut up in the monastery of Prum, where, ten years later, he was tonsured as a monk, and recounted these events to the chronicler In the meantime an army was hired for Gotfred in Denmark. It Regino. advanced into Saxony, but was successfully hemimed in and annihilated. Only a small number of the Danes escaped. With Gotfred fell that Danish dominion in Frisia which had lasted during the better part of the 9th century and which was based on ancient claims traceable several centuries back. The Franks had fought with the Danes about supremacy on the North-Sea coast as early as the 6th century, and it is against this background that we should view the Danish king Gotfred's claim on Frisia as being his own country in 809, when he made war upon Charles the Great. It was a secular struggle aboud the Danish and Frankish spheres of interests that was finally concluded when the last Danish ruler of Frisia

was murdered

conclusion

of

in 885.

It

is

a significant fact that this also

Danish Viking expeditions

to

these parts of

be

visited

the

marks

the

Frankish

Empire.

West Francia, on the other hand, was

to

by the Northmen for a

After the agreement at Ascloa in 882 Sigfred with the army went up the Scheldt, taking up his position in Conde in the autumn, and devastating the land north of the Somme in the most appalling way during the winter. When spring came, the army went north to the coast, ravaging Flanders in the summer. In the following antumn the army marched south again to winter in Amiens. Without any resistance being offered, the Vikings plundered on both sides of the Oise as far as the Seine. The boy king Carloman generation yet.

was brave himself, but he had not

sufficient authority to raise an efficient

defensive force; the grandees of the kingdom refused to follow him. There was nothing for it but to resort to negotiations once more, and to the payment of a tribute of 12000 poimds of silver, in order to induce the Northmen to

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leave the country. Peace was concluded, but again broken, when Carloman died before Christmas the same year (884). West Francia then chose for its

king Charles the Fat, his sway.

Once more

who had already

united Italy and East Francia under the whole Frankish staite was unified under one ruler.

But this choice proved to be a weakening rather than otherwise, for the defence of the northern provinces. The Emperor had so many interests to look after that he could not devote much attention to his outlying provinces on the sea-coast. So the Northmen pushed on with undiminished audacity. In 885, at

midsummer, when the Emperor was

Rouen, and the

fleet entered the Seine.

in Italy, the

Viking army captured

Tlie attacks of local Frankish forces

were repulsed, and in november the fleet sailed up the river, conquered Ponand advanced on Paris. The Seine was covered with 700 ships of the greater sizes, besides countless smaller ones; the army is estimated at a number of 40000 men, and wais beyond a doubt the largest ever collected on Frankish soil by Northmen. It was commanded by Sigfred. Thus commences the famous siege of Paris, the proudest memory of the campaign in West Francia in tlie 9th century. Bishop Gauzlin and Count Odo of Paris held command in the town. They refused to let the fleet sail past the town to continue its advance eastwards, as demanded by Sigfred. The Northmen launched an attack upon the town the very next morning, but were repulsed, and a regular investment began. The Northmen built a fortified camp, and ravaged the land terribly in a wide circimiference. The siege was carried on with all the technical means known to the warfare of the time, with balistas, battering rams, testudoes; burning ships were propelled on the river for the purpose of setting fire to the bridges. In January and February there were repeated attempts at taking the town by assault. The outworks on the left bank of the Seine were captured and the town was completely invested. The scarcity of food grew more end more pronioimced. An attempt at rescue on the part of Count Henry of East Francia failed. Gauzlin, by paying a silver tribute, succeeded in inducing King Sigfred to stop the fight; but the bulk of the army refused to follow his lead, and the siege went on, as strict as before. No less heroic was the defence kept up siagle-hamded by Count Odo after the death of Bishop Gauzin. The town was reduced to starvation, disease raged with a terrible rate of mortality. The only hope of Paris was in the Emperor who was at length on his way home from Italy. In Burgimdy the Emperor received an lu-gent message imploring him to hurry to the rescue of Paris. But he lingered for a while yet. In July he held a diet in Metz, raising the imperial array. Count Henry, in the meantime, was to reconnoitre the position, but fell in a fight outside Paris in August. In October, at long last, the Emperor with the whole armed force of the Empire, toise,

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was facing the enemy. He sent reinforcennents into the town, and drove the Northmen on to the left bank of the Seine. The siege was raised after 11 months, but was, like the earlier siege of Ascloa, followed by a strange agreement without any fighting haven taken place. The Northmen were promised 700 pounds of silver, and winter-quarters were assigned to them in Burgundy. They obtained precisely the object they had fought for all through.

The it

siege of Paris

is

of particular interest to the present research, because

gives a clearer impresision than any other event, of the character of the

Scandinavian army. It was an army of dimensions rarely equalled in the early Middle Ages, splendidly armed, severely disciplined, trained in battles and campaigns, led by commianders who had been schooled in the warfare of the time, in cavalry tactics as well as in sieges.

nent were

now

The Northmen on

the Conti-

professional warriors keeping the field year in year out, sum-

mer and vinter. The army was their home and, as it were, their country, being indeed a settled community with its own legal organisation, a people of warriors with their households, their vomen and their children, their thralls, capbaggage, and beasts of burden. The army subsisted as a society and all its operations were determined solely with a view to the upkeep of the army, and as an outcome of its desire of plunder. tives, horses,

of parasites in a foreign country,

The

was followed by events that betoken the complete disintegration of the Prankish empire. The Emperor was deposed, and Amulf of Bavaria and Carinthia became master of East Francia. Odo of Paris became king of West Francia, without however possessing any real, siege of Paris

decisive authority over the great lords of Burgundy, Provence, and Aquitaine. There was no united power to withstand the Northmen. The great army remained in the heart of France during m^any years yet, extending its campaigns from Lyon to Flanders. Another army, under Hasting, ravaged on the Loire and fought in Britanny. There is no reason here to follow the aimless

plunderings of these years, with the ever-lasting repetition of ravages, burnings, killings,

and fights attended with varying success. As a whole, the history

of the period leaves us strongly impressed with the fact that

none of the

masters of the country was strong enough to drive out the Northmen. This was, on the other hand, effected by a famine in 892. The harvests

were destroyed by drought, and the distress was appalling. Then it was that the great army, in 250 ships, with baggage and horses, crossed the water from Boulogne to Kent. At the same time Hasting, with the Loire army, went across from the Somme to the Thames in 80 ships. The armies joined their forces in England, and began the fierce four years' war against Wessex mentioned above (p. 86 and 116). For the first time since 50 years back France was completely rid of the Northmen.

Chapter

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X

was a short respite. Wlieii King Alfred had crushed the Viking England, the Northmen reappeared with a fleet in the Seine,' and in the following years we again hear of their incessant raids and ravages through Their headall the proxdnces, from Aquitaine to Burgundy and Flanders. But

army

it

in

quarters were

now

in the Loire,

now

The defence West Francia

in the Oise, or in the Seine.

was now wholly paralysed by internal dissensions. Odo of died in 898, and was succeeded by Charles the Simple, aged nineteen year, who tried in vain to rally round him the great of his Kingdom that a united resistance might be offered to the enemy. The Frankish annals unfortunately give very few exact details about the Northmen during these years, from 890 just when the coiu:^se of events was leading up to the cession of to 910

—

We have scattered items of information about ravages and encounters on various occasions, but not at all the matters requisite for a It is evident that the Northmen had their permanent consecutive account. the mouth of the Seine during all this time. In 908 round resort in the land another fleet came to the Loire too, led by Barit (Bard) and Heric (Eirik),

Normandy.

ravaging the neighbourhood of Tours,^ but only by the way, it seems. The chieftain Bard is probably identical with Bard, son of Ottar, who fell fighting against Ragnvall, son of Ivar, in a naval battle on the coast of Anglesey in 914.

contemporary sources from these years do not mention the chieftain who has rightly won the greatest fame, viz. Rollo, the foimder of Normandy. His name appears for the first time in a document from 918, which however confirms the fact of Normandy having been ceded to him in 911. The main source of the history of Rollo is the Norman chronicle written by Dudo of St. Quentin at the beginning of tlie 11th century on the instigation of the dukes Richard I and Richard II, De moribus et actis primorum Normanniae ducum. The chronicle itself states its political purpose, it being written ad majorem ducum gloriam, and so should only be used as an historical source with a corresponding exercise of caution.^ What Dudo tells us of Rollo's descent and of his earlier career is,

The most peculiar

fact,

in this connection, is that

Huncdeus or Hunedeus (Norwegian: Hunf>j6fr, Sophus Bugge, Hunedeus was baptised by Charles the Simple in 898, when it was contemplated to seek bis assistance in the struggle with King Odo. * The name Bard is a common one among Norwegian chieftains in Ireland, and this army may very well have been part of the Norwegians driven out of Dublin when that town was captured by the Irish in 901. See above, p. 66, and Walther Vogel, Die Normannen Alexander Bugge, Norges Historie, Kristiania 1910, und das Frankische Reich, p. 391. Bugge supposes that the other chieftain Eirik is identical with Eric I, 2, pp. 79 and 183. Bloodaxe, later to become King of Norway, who would in that case be receiving the trai'

Under the

Arkiv for nordisk

chieftain

filologi VI, p. 231).

—

ning

of his

youth

in

Viking expeditions and, indeed, the name Eirik

is

very rare in the

Henry Prentout, Etude critique sur Dudon historical records, of Western Europe. de Saint-Quentin et Son histoire des premiers Dues Normands. Paris 1916, '^

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composed to and from annals. Rollo is here stated to be the son of a powerful chieftain in Dacia, whose name, however, is not given, nior the place where he bore rule. A war against the king of the coimtry resulted in his being exiled; he goes to the island of Scanza, thence to England, Flanders, and France, finding everywhere opporBut we do not tread safely on historical tunities of doing deeds of valour. ground till we are informed of the known eventsi of about 910." Dudo, as we see, gives practically no positive information as to who Rollo really was, and whence he came. In opposition to Dudo's statements there is the Norse tradition which states, clearly and concisely that the conqueror of Normandy was a son of Earl Ragnvald of More, Gongu-Rolv, exiled from Norway by Harald Fairhair for his strandhogg (or predatory descents) in Viken.' The name and the explanation so given is confirmed by contemporary verses by his mother Hild and his brother Turf-Einar, Earl of the Orkneys.* As an exile he must have stayed in the Hebrides, and Icelandic genealogists tell us that he had a daughter Kadlin in Scotland, married to the Scottish chieftain Biolan. Their daughter Nidbiorg was married to the Icelander Helge Ottarsson, and her son was the kald Einar Skalaglam. Many later Icelandic families descended from him, felt thereby entitled to count Gongu-Rolv their progenitor. From Scotland Rolv went to France, naturally enough along the route followed by many before him, and won Normandy for his own. The Norse sources take us as far as this, by an account the first part of which is confirmed by contemporary testimonies and which unfolds a course of events besides, a piece of quite fanciful liistorical literature, manifestly a great extent of loans from earlier historical works

•

>

has nothing improbable in

that

it

considering the circumstances of the time.

The Icelandic writings in which Gongu-Rolv is mentioned, were, it is true, composed three hundred years later, at the beginning of the 13th century. It goes without saying that so late a record cannot be considered incontrovert-

even though oral tradition in Iceland was remarkably reliable. But it important support from the only source that is practically conIjemporaneous, viz. the dirge sung at the burial of William Longsword in 942. In the second stanza of this dirge it is stated that Rollo's son and successor was bom beyond the sea while his father was still living in pagan unbelief, ible,

receives

°

Prentoul rightly underlines that William

of .luniieties,

Dudo's successor and conipilor

Norman historian, rejects the whole of this introduction to the biography ' of Rollo. The Landnamabok, chapter 270. Annarr var Ciongu-Rolfr er vann Normandi. Fra hanum er Rodu iarlar komnir ok Engla konungar. Ed. Kobenhavn 1900, p. 96. — Snorre, Heimskringla, Haralds Saga his harfagra, chapter 24. Gongu Rolfr for sidan in his capacity of

vestr uni haf jarlsriki

lil

Sudreya, ok jJadan {6r hann vestr

mikit ok bygfii tihar injok

Unger, Christiania 1868, p. 160. Minne, Kristiania 1912, p. 104.

i

Valland ok

herjafii [Jar

ok eigna6ist

Nor6monnum, ok er t>ar si&an kallat NorOiniandi. Ed. " Magnus Olsen, Gange-Rolvs Slrandhugg. M&\ og

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but had himself been baptised by the care of his Christian mother. Brief as it is, the stanza may be read as being in full accordance with the story of Gongu-Rolv's stay in the Hebrides, where his daughter Kadlin bears a

We may

add that William of Malmesbury, writing about 1120, was descended from a noble family among the Norwegians; according to the so-called laws further that William the Conqueror himself said that his ancestors and most of the barons of Edward the Confessor Prentout has also adduced a stateof Normandy had come from Norway." ment of Norman tradition in Italy to the effect, that this people (the Normans) originally lived in an island named Nora." Among the various sources Dudo Christian name.

states that Rollo

—

—

stands very nearly alone with this tale about Rollo's Danish extraction.^^ We do not known the date of Rollo's first arrival in France. Alexander

Bugge conjeotures that he may have joined the Noirwegian army leaving Dublin under Bard and Eirik on the expedition to the Loire in 903, thereupon joining the Northmen in the Seine. It is certain that the Northmen had their permamanent position at Rouen during the first ten yeans after 900, and that they already had seven towns in their power there. The occupation of Normandy was in a fair way of becoming an accomplished fact, but the sources give no further details. An expedition to Burgimdy in 910 was in all likelihood commanded by Rollo, and there is no doubt that he led the siege of Chartres the year after, when the Northmen suffered a pretty decisive defeat. The moment was favourable for obtaining lasting peace. The clergy had already been working for a reconciliation during several years, and some of the Northmen themselves bad been baptised. In the late autumn of 911 Charles the Simple met the chieftains of the Northmen at St. Clai-r-sur-Epte. Rollo received the country already virtually in his possession, for the defence of the kindgom,» paying homage to the king by putting his hands in his, i. e. by going through the ordinary forms attending the oath of allegiance. Then followed baptism; the Northmen were christianised. The Franks had retained the forms of

conquered land that had taken place. Dudo reports that on the eighth day after the baptism Rollo began to portion out the land among his chieftains, and to bestow gifts on his men; and shortly after he tells us that he peopled this waste coim^try with his followers and with strangers. Dudo also mentions that the land was apportioned to the men by sovereignity, in reality

it

was a cession

of

—

^ Alexander Bugge, GangerR. Keyser, Samlede Afhandlinger, Christiania 1868, p. 63. Rolv og Erobringen av Normandi, Historisk Tidsskrifl, Kristiania 1912 (5. 1), p. 192. " A recent contribution to the nationality of Nor1° Henry Prentout, I.e., p. 143.

Professor Holmboe has stated that the plant conopodiuni is given by Jens Holmboe. denudatum, Norwegian jordnolt. Old Norse, jar6not is still called jarnote. gemote, and in Normandy, as the plant in and thus undoubtedly by a Norwegian name the like common in Norway, in the Western very while it is Denmark, grow in question does not fjord districts from Rogaland to More.

mandy

—

—

C h means

of ropes; there

is

a p

of course

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127

no question

of

any

real

measurement

of

the whole country, only of the several domains assigned to the new settlers. This seizing of land evidently took place with observance of the forms known to us

from other Viking settlements, such as those

in

England and

in Iceland.

It is stated in Dudo that Rollo made laws in accordance with the advice of the chiftains, and that he was a stem ruler, bent on securing peace and lawful order in his country. Christianity progressed but slowly during Rollo's Complaints are made of dancing and of manslaughter in the very time.

churches, and several bishops' sees remained vacant.'-

waste — or nearly so — when not surprise us,

it

was ceded

to the

The country had

Northmen, which

lain

fact should

seeing that the Seine had been the entrance-gate of the

Vikings uninterruptedly for two generations. The clei^ was decimated, the functions of the church thoroughly disarranged. RoUo himself died a professed pagan,'' and in the next generation there were into

still

serious relapses

Scandinavian paganism, surely, however, in connection with ever-renewed

There are no state documents left by William Longsword, and it may be considered doubtful

immigration of pagans from the North.

RoUo

or

by his

son,

whether they ever issued written deeds. Neustria had been given over to the Northmen to act as a defence of the kingdom. At the initial stage of his rule, we find Rollo making use of every opportunity of extending his territory. The first cesision included only La Haute Normandie, i. e. rather less than one half of the later duchy, and the Northmen themselves surely did not consider thetse narrow boundaries as final. In 914 and 915 the Northmen were again in the Loire with a fleet under Ottar and Hroald; from 919 onwards they kept the whole of Brittany, and in 921 the county of Nantes was ceded to them by Duke Robert of France. Two years later they had another opportunity, Robert assuming the title of king in opposition to Charles the Simple; he fell, however, in the battle of When Rudolf of Soissons, where Charles' army too was badly shattered. Burgundy stood forth as another rival king, the Northmen under Ragnvald, the chieftain of the Loire army, invaded France claiming an additional cession of land. The peace of 924 added the provinces of Maine and Bessin to Normandy. The peace was again broken in 926, while there was at the same time a rising in Aquitaine and an invasion of Magyars crossing the Rhine. The Northmen lost a battle against King Rudolf in Artois, but Rollo obtained from Hugh of France a small addition to his territory, and fresh danegeld > paid both by France and Burgundy (926). Nantes was likewise successfully defended against Hugh, and the Northmen's possession of it was confirmed "

Prentout,

1.

c, p. 410.

Longsword: niorienle

" As confirmed by

infidele suo patre.

the dirge at the tmrial of

VVilli.Tn)

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peace of 927, which peace proved final as far as Rollo's reign is conThe Northroen were then masters of a well-rounded territory comcerned. prising Normandy, Maine, and Brittany with the county of Nantes. at the

We receive the impresision that the Northmen imagined their position to have been stabilised within these bovmdaries, just as, in England, the peace between Guthrum and Alfred had been considered final. The French would The cession of Normandy had been naturally take another point of view. had been anything but welcome visitors; the enforced, and the Northmen French would, as a matter of course, aim at their expulsion, following the where Gotfred had been made an end of after the examples set in Frisia where King Edward had, in 918, and in England lapse of "only three years Normandy was surrounded recovered East-Anglia and the Five Boroughs by enemies, menaced from the outsides, and as yet little consolidated internally. Under its two first dukes Normandy had to go through a crisis that

— —

,

—

—

.

decide whether the colony was at all to survive. do not know the exact date of Rollo's death. He is mentioned for the laist time on the occasion of an agreement in 928, and from 933 we find his son, William Longsword, as duke. We do not know very much about William either. A Latin dirge on his death, menitioned several times already, is the which is a Celtic only contemporary source. His mother was named Popa name and was presumably Scottish'*, her son being bom before Rollo came to Normandy, and this view of her nationality is, moreover, in full agreement with the Norse tradition about Gongu-Roiv's stay in 'the Hebrides. According to the dirge William was christened as an infant by the care of his Christian mother, and it is certain that he was a Christian. He kept up intimate relations with the church, and after his death he was declared a saint. In later history he was reputed a weak man. On one definite occasion he is reported to have wished to enter a monastery, but neither would the abbot concerned receive him, nor the chieftains of the Northmen suffer him to carry out his intention. He was not allowed to quit the post in which he had been placed. The conditions of the time made his career a hard one; he had enough to

was

to

We

—

—

,

contend with, and met with an early and violent death. William had his first fight in Brittany which had risen against the Northmen on Rollo's death in 931. The Duke of Rennes invaded Bessin, gaining the victory of Caen over the first levies from Normandy. This was followed

by a general massacre of Northmen settled in Brittany. Then came a coimterNorthmen and of Normandy, resulting in Britwas only by another campaign, lasting from 936 tany being recovered in 933. It

attack on the part of the Loire

1*

Popa, at any rate, cannot have been a Breton; for after his arrival in France.

met Rollo

in that case

she could only have

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succeeded in making himself master of Brittany and in definitely driving off the Northmen from the Loire. Maine, given up in 924, had, as it seems, never been effectively occupied by the Northmen; it was at any rate natural that it should revert to Hugh of France. In to 939, that the legitimate heir, Alan,^'

other words, then, the territory of the Northmen after Rollo's death, was once

more restricted to Normandy proper. Here William Longsword had at the same time to fight a very serious rising led by Rithulv. It was a violent movement said to be called forth in reaction against William's French surroundings He was said to set aside the Northmen. The presumption, then, is that the tradition has a kernel of truth, that Williiam's rule began to mould on French conceptions of statecraft, i. e. to aim at increasing consolidation of the ducal power, with additional duties of the subjects; in other words there was probably an evolution in the direction of feudality, away from the Viking asisociation of freemen living on a footing oi equality. Possibly, too, pagan discontent with William's attitude towards the church may have been at work. He was, as will be remembered, very active in the reestablishment of ecclesiastical endowments and in the reorganisation of the church in Normandy. If these surmises are correct, the rising was an outcome of political and religious dissensions during that first stage, before the society of the Northmen had settled down to its permianent forms on French soil. Rithulv's success was a grave danger; he stood before Rouen, when William Longsword delivered the decisive battle, and won a complete victory. His position was now ensured. It is reported that many Northmen came to him, and entered his service. We now find the Duke of Normandy beginning to take his place among the grandees of France too. William is, indeed, still called 'the pirate duke', piratarum dux, in contemporary sources, but he participated in the making homage to Louis IV (d' Outremer), the young Carlovingian who was called home from England to ascend the throne in 936, and on that occasion the provinces of Avranches and Cotentin were added to Normandy. William likewise itself

accompanied the king to his meeting with Otto I, the new ruler of East Francia. At the same time he is seen to have entered into family alliances with several French grandees. William of Poitiers married William Longswords's sister, Gerloc, and he himself married a daughter of Herbert of Vermandois, whose other daughter was married to Amulf of Flanders. In this way Normandy was attached by double bonds to definite groups of interests in internal French politics, first and foremost to the party that rallied round Hugh the Great of France. fighting at the

He was

"'

same

William Longsword sided with Hugh against the king, time, in Brittany, against

fostered in exile at the

Amulf

court of .I'^lhelstan

in

of Flanders,

England,

simultaneously with the Carlovingian Louie being recalled as heir 9

—

Viking Antiquities.

to the

who was

returnins

kingdom.

home

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and against ^thelstan in England, who sent a fleet and his own fosterson, Louis IV. The oppoIt was not sition party, again, received support from Otto of East Francia. till 940 that a reconciliation took place between William Longsword and the king, at a meeting in Armlens; and in 942 King Louis visited Rouen, where he was received in royal state. In the same year, on the 17th of December, William Longsword was murdered when attending a peaoe-mieeting with Amulf of Flanders on an island Four men, Eric, Balzo, Robert, and Rithulv, are menin the river Somme. tioned as his murderers, that is to say, two of them were Northmen, while the third, Balzo, was a son of Connt Amulf's brother. We may fairly infer that the deed itself was an act of revenge perpetrated by enemies from Normandy who had been led by Rithulv during the rebellion; but it is no less certain that the murder must have been planned by Amulf of Flanders to strike down a hated neighbour. William Longsword was destined to meet with the fate that had overtaken Gotfred in Frisia in 885. And his death happened at a very opportune moment for King Louiis. Richard, a boy of seven, was heir to Normandy, and Louis immediately went to Normandy to maintain his rights as the liege lord of a fief under an heir an adherent

of the king,

in assistance of his sister's son

He refused to give his consent to a request for a Norman guarinstead a French royal steward as administrator of the appointing dianship, fief. At the siamie time he made use of his privilege as a guardian to secure the boy in order to bring him up at his own court. Richard was kept in custody

imder

age.

and the fief was governed in entire accordance with the views of the During several years King Louis was the real master of Normandy; he paid regular visits to Rouen, entered into negotiations with Hugh about their dividing the country between them, and seems to have successfully put down a rising of Northmen led by Turmod and Sitrec. There can be little doubt that Louis intended to seize the fief, appeasing some of the powerful French vassals by making certain concessions to them. But the resistance of the Northmen was kept up by Hagrold, the chieftain at Bayeux, who received reinforcements from the North. The new-comers caused a relapse to at Laon,

king.

paganism among the Northmen settled in the country; the chronicle has it that pagan Northmen had supervened, and others relapsed to paganism (Nordmanni qui pagani advenerant vel ad paganismum revertebantur)." was successfully kidnapped from the king's court at The prince, Richard brought up as a Northman. His father had sent him to Laon. He had been

—

Hagrold was, according to Dudo of St. Quentin, the King of Denmark, message had been sent aslving his assistance; so he has naturally enough been Flodoard, who is more reliable, only mentions that he identified with Harald Bluetooth. and he, moreover, calls him Hagroldus qui Bajocis praeerat was chieftain of Bayeux 1"

to

The

whom

chieftain

a

—

—

,

Chapter X

131

Bayeux to be brought up there in order that he might learn
nearly twenty years Chartres.

later,

when Richard

I

was

The chronicle reports that Richard sent to it is certain that he sent into the field

for help, and

is

repeated

war with Thibaut of King Harald of Denmark a hired army of pagans

at

French scholars have guessed at in this author, means Norwegian. Hagrold being Harald Greycloak who fought in Western Europe in his youth. We must make the objection that Glum Geirason's Gnifeldardrapa (or: the epic of Harald Greycloak) does not mention Harald Greycloaks having ever been in France, though his other achievements are carefully enumerated; neither does Danish tradition, as preserved in Saxo, show any knowledge of an expedition to Normandy undertaken by Harald Bluetooth. Why not guess at the third namesake, Gold-Harald, a son of Harald Bluetooth's brother. The odds are that

Nordmannus, which,

they were,

all

the three Haralds, too young to act as leading chieftains in the rebellion in 945. Harald Bluetooth was at war with East-Francia in 974, and died in

Normandy about

98.5, and he is older than the two others by one Harald Greycloak became king of Norway about 900, Gold-Harald tell about ten years later, about 970. For more details, see H. Prentout, Etude critique sur Dudon de " Dudo, p. 221 (112) writes as follows: quoniam quidem .Saint-Quentin, pp. 3.59 H. Rotomagensis civitas, Romrna potiue quani Dacisc« utitur eloquentia, et Bajocacensis fruitur Quoted from Steenslrup: Normannerne I, frequentius Dacisca lingua quam Romana.

the field fighting against his son about

generation.

—

p. 176.

C

132

h a p

t

e r

X

from many lands, as for instance from Norway and from Ireland.''. On this occasion we again meet with Norwegian contingents of expeditions going west to France. The campaign, from the point of view of the Northmen, was almost too successful; the land of Thibaut was ravaged in a way reminiscent of the fiercest Viking times, and Richard was hard put to it to check the army, when the enemy sued for peace. The main force went off on an expedition to Spain in the following summer (966), but many of the warriors were baptised, settling in Normandy and so adding to the Scandinavian population established there. In this connection we may also mention a similar occurrence in the next generation, when Richard II of Normandy, at war against Count Odo oif Chartres about his sister's dowry, hired the assistance of two chieftains then in England, one of them Olav Haraldsson, who likewise continued his expedition into Southern France and into Spain. In the following winter Olav lay in the Seine, was received by Duke Richard and baptised by Archbishop Robert of Rouen. It is on this occasion that Snorre adds that the dukes
—

—

counted themselves akin to the chieftains of Norway through and were always the best friends of the Norwegians. Normandy of refuge for all Norwegians whenever they wanted one. This also implied in the information given by William of Jumiege,

Gongu-Rolv,

was a place sentiment

is

writing that

Svein Forkbeard, on his expeditions to England, made an agreement with Duke Richard providing that he might freely sell his plunder in Normandy, and there also provide tendance for his woiuided and sick. England too was fully aware that Danish Vikings might resort to Normandy for safety; for King

^thelred made diplomatic remonstrances in 988, and sent his fleet to Cotentin in the year 1000. To judge from the historical events already mentioned there can be no doubt that Normandy kept up intimate relations with the Scandinavian nations during the whole of the 10th century. On the other hand, it was unavoidable that French influence should become extremely strong in Normandy. Duke Richard married the daughter of Hugh the Great, the sister of Hugh Capet, and was bound to become more and more closely connected with his French peers. During his reign the church of Normandy was at length fully reorganised, and the monasteries reformed. The French, of course, looked upon Normandy as a fief held of the king, of the same mould as other states held by feudal tenure, that is to say the very reverse of the Viking army, which was an association of free individuals imder an elected head. It was the army that had conquered Normandy and divided it among themselves, and there had as a matter of course to be " According

to

The

Dudo, Northguegigenae, Hirenses.

interpreted as Norwegians from Ireland.

Prentout,

I.e.,

p.

385.

last

word assuredly

to

be

C

h a p

t

e r

X

133

obstinate contests before this Northern society could be re-moulded on the lines of

French

political

ideas.

The

internal antagonism manifested itself

for the last time at the beginning of Richard II's reign, in the last years of It was said that the people showed growing discontent, caused by a feeling of miisfortune and of oppression. It is stated that the discontent was caused by new imposts on the land, by villenage service exacted by the lords, by the tolls taken by the lords for the use of roads, All these things were part and parcel of the miles, rivers, and markets. normal system of Carlovingian France, where such taxes as these had long

the 10th century.

been confirmed as privileges of the lords

of the

land.

But at the same

time this system was entirely foreign to the Scandinavian sense of law, and so seemed a crying injustice in Normandy. It was discovered that a conspiracy

was afoot among the peasants

against their landlords; but the rising

had barely time to break out. It wais crushed by Raoul d'lvry, step-brother of Richard I, and with appalling cruelty. This defeat of the peasants in reality sealed the internal transformation of Normandy from a Viking colony into a French feudal dominion.

CHAPTER

XI.

SPAIN AND AFRICA. As a supplement to the account of the Scandinavian imviasions in the we would add a short record of the Viking expeditions

Franikish empire

farther south, to the Pyrenean peninsula, to Africa, and to Italy.^ sist,

in

fact,

They conof only a few rapid expeditions, interesting, indeed, but not

destined to lea^ve permanent imprints on later history. witliout

any

political

background like those

to France,

of settlement like the expeditions to Ireland

They were cruises

and without any thought

and England,

fantastic raids

by the spirit of adventure and the desire of plunder alone. The Vikings were strongly tempted to try their luck farther a-field, when from Ireland they found the road to harbours in Brittany, in the Loire, and in the Garonne, from where well-known trade-routes led southwards to Spain and dictated

the Mediterranean. As early as 799 a descent in Aquitaine is recorded, forming the introduction to this age of discoveries, during which new countries with new riches opened up before the Viking on every expedition. In the summer of 844, when Charles the Bald was besieging Toulouse, a considerable Viking army operated in the neighbourhood, having, may-be, its share in forcing the king to raise the siege and order the retreat. The fleet of the Northmen, more than 100 ships strong, then went down the Garonne again, and set sail for the north coast of Spain. They ravaged along the coast of Spain westwards, making a descent in Asturia, the province farthest to the north-west, still a Christian state under King Ramiro I (842 850). But they found stubborn enemies, descendants of the Visigoths, who had for a centiuy been trained in constant fights against the infidels. The Vikings

—

were beaten, losing many ships, as well as plunder. The fleet, for all that, had not been so i-udely handled but that it was still capable of proceeding along the coasts and trying an attack on Lissabon in August. The Vikings ' In the main we here follow Steenstrup, Norniannerne II. Vikingetogene mot Vest del 9de Arhundrede, Kjobenhavn 1878, p. 287 ff., still to be regarded as the best exposition of the subject. A complete collection of Arabian sources has been published by the Oslo University, Alexander Seippel, Rerum Normannicarum fontes Arabici, Oslo 1896 1928, with critical i

—

annotations.

Chapter

XI

135

Then they left for Cadix, going on from there through the province of Sidona in southern Andalusia. Step by step they approached Sevilla, and after two successful actions they made an assault on the town in October. The town itself was indeed taken, but not so the castle, fought here for 30 days.

in

which the governor defended himself. The Northmen then lay

at Sevilla

for about a month, sending out detachements plundering the surrounding

land far and wide.

So far the Northmen had had the upper hand wherever they advanced. But they had, it should be T'&membered, only encountered minor forces of local militia, while, at the same time, the Moors had begun to collect armed forces from all their provinces. Their country wait not, like France, a state divided against itself by civil warfare; the Moors were a united warlike people and they were only deferring their attack until it might be conducted with Part of the Viking army (of 16000 men) was interquite superior forces. cepted and cut to pieces. Sevilla was rescued and delivered. The Vikings propoised an armistice that the captives might be ransomed, and when, in spite of that, they again tried the chances of war, they were defeated once more. In Sidona they lost 500 men and 4 ships. It is stated later on that 30 ships were burnt. The Moors hanged all the captives and the Emir Abderrahman II sent the heads of one king and two hundred other pagans as a trophy to his colleague in Morocco. It is evident that the Vikings proved decidedly inferior to a well-organised and armed society making serious resistance. They made yet one, final, inroad in the province of Sidona, and a descent on the coast of Morocco, ravaging the coast about Lissabon and then departing from the country. After that they were no longer heard of says the Arabian historian. The Northmen, in fact, sailed back to the Garonne with their fleet, disembarking in the neighbourhood of Bordeaux. They defeated a local force under Count Sign in of Bordeaux, who was captured and killed, taking up their quarters, for a time, in the town of Saintes (845). The Moors of Spain took every precaution to secure themselves against renewed hostilities. Sevilla was fortified; warships were built and crews were trained for naval service; a new system was established for the rapid mobilisation of the armed forces, by means of mounted messengers between the provinces. The next Viking attack on Spain, accordingly, was on the whole effectively repulsed. It was in the year 859 that a fleet manned by Northmen, and according to the legend led by Hasting and Bjom, set sail for the coasts of Spain. Like their predecessors, they made their first attack on the northern coast of Asturia. King Ramiro I had died in 850, and his son Ordoha I was just arming for a war against the Moors. The Moors too were now ruled by a young prince, Mohamed I, who had succeeded his father Abderrahman in 852. It is quite possible that the Northmen, having heard of -^^

,

136

C h a p

t

XI

e r

an impending war between the Moors and the Christians

in Spain,

may have

desired to profit by such a favourable opportunity. In Asturia, however, they were at once repulsed. The fleet, 62 ships strong, sailed on along the west coast, partly pursued by the coastal guards of the Moors organised since the

Two of the Viking ships, which had been sent on ahead were captured in a port in the province of Beja; in the ships were found captives, gold, and provisions. The main fleet sailed along the coast to Guadalquivir. But the Emir Mohamed had taken up his position, with army and fleet, in the mouth of the river, and the.Northmen were beaten off, losing several ships. They then sailed to Algeciras, where they burnt down the mosque, then through the straits of Gibraltar to Morocco. Here they seized first

Viking attack.

of the rest,

the town of Nakur, defeated the Mauritanians in a pitched battle, ravaged and killed throughout the country. An Irish source, quoted several times already (p. 26, 117),

mentions that black captives taken on this expedition were after-

wards sold as

thralls in Ireland.

From

Africa the fleet returned to Spain, ravaged in Andalusia and northwards along the Mediterranean coast, cutting across from there to the Balearic Islands, Majorca, Minorca, Ivitza,

and proceeding thence

and Formentera, which were terribly deva-

They crossed the frontier of Provence, establishing themselves on the island of Camargue in the mouth of the Rhone, from which they started plundering extensively stated,

to the coast of Christian Catalonia.

in the surrounding country (see above, p. 113).

About this visit of the Northmen, to the south, we possess a contemporary document, vis. a letter from the Abbot Lupus, congratulating Count Gerhard of Provence on a victory over the robbers. All the same, they remained in the Rhone till spring. Then they went on to Italy. It is on this occasion that the legend tells us that Hasting had determined to conquer Rome that he might call himself master of the world, but instead conquered Luna, mistaking it for Rome. It is not certain whether Luna was captured. But Pisa was destroyed, and Fiesole was sacked." Otherwise we have most inadequate information about the events taking place on this occasion. Some old authors add that the same fleet continued its cruise from Italy eastwards in the Mediterranean to the Greek coasts and to Alexandria; it is just mentioned with laconic briefness, and no confirmation is found in Greek sources.' We know at all events that the fleet left the

Mediterranean, sailing through the

of 861.

In the straits the fleet lost 40 ships in a gale,

"

Johannes Steenstrup, fitudes sur

le

straits of

temps des Vikings,

Gibraltar in the

summer

and 4 miore ships were

2,

Prise de

Luna en

Italie,

Bulletin de I'Acadeniie des Sciences et des Lettres de Daneniarlt 1922—23, Kjobenhavn 1923, p. 114. I.

—

H. Prentout.

Hasting a Luna.

fitudes sur quelques points ''

Steenstrup:

Normannerne

d'Histoire de Norniandie, I,

p. 127.

Caen

1926.

C h a p lost in a fight against ttie

Moorish

t

fleet

e r

XI

137

on the coast of Sidona, where, however,

engagement entailing the loss of many' lives on the side of the Moors. In the Bay of Biscay they made yet another descent, pushing on to Pampelona, where they captured the prince of Navarra, who was compelled to ransom himself by the payment of 90000 demarii. The spring of 862 saw the fleet back in the Loire (see above, it

also

came

off victorious in a hard-fought

p. 114).

In connection with the expedition to Spain about the middle of the 9th century, a very curious source ought to

be mentioned, giving information about

diplomatic relations between the Moors and the home-land of the Vikings. It

is

an Arabian author from the 13th century, Abu-al-Chattab, called Ibnwho draws his information from an earlier source, surely contempo-

Dihek,

It is stated that it was at the time when madjus, had stormied' the suburbs of Sevilla and taken the land, but had been beaten off when attacking the castle;

rary with the events related. the infidels,

surrounding they proposed an afmistice so that they might ransom the captives, and

when

then sailed -off; then the Emir

country of the infidels.

Abderrahman

The reason

sent ambassadors twice to the

for sending ambassadors

is

sufficiently

obvious; they were sent after the great Viking expedition to Spain in 844.

It

was Jahja-ibn al Haquam, called al-Ghazal, the gazelle on account of his beauty, who was sent on this errand. He was fifty years of age, an experi,

enced and eminent diplomat, having for instance been sent on a mission to Byzantium, and was, besides, a well-known lyric poet. It is from this man himself that Ibn-Dihek's informant got his tale. And a curiously interesting story it is, well worth being re-told in this connection as containing the only contemporary foreign description handed down to us of the home-land of the Vikings.

The ambassador sailed off where the land

and gifts. had stormy weather; a verse by al-Ghazal depicts the peril of death at sea. After a voyage of three days and nights they reached one of the islands of the infidels, where they rested for some days, while a message was sent to the king announcing their arrival. Then they went to the residence of the king of the infidels. It was situated in an immense island, surrounded by the sea on all sides, and it was peopled by innumerable infidels. Near this island there were many other islands, some of them large, others small; all the inhabitants were infidels, and it was the same on the neighbouring continent. These people have their own religion, worshipping fire. The embassy was conducted to the residence of the king, where they were well accommodated, and summoned to attend on the king in two days. Then follows the audience. The letter from the emir was delivered, read out, and translated. The king took the letter in his hand, lifted In the west,

in a magnificent ship, with a letter

ends, they

Chapter XI

138

The

were produoed. At the close of the audience it, and put it down; this is regarded as a great honour rendered to the emir's letter. The ambassador must have stayed in the country for a considerable time; and he got a letter to carry home to the emir from the king. it,

and put

it

down.

the king again took the

The greater part

gifts

letter, lifted

of the story

is

him.

an account of al-Ghazal's friendShe was curious to see him, and sent for

filled with

ship with the queen of the country.

After that he had to go to her every day, having protracted interviews When he mentioned that their appointments were dangerous, on

with her.

among

account of the king, she laughed and said that

their people a

woman

to a mian for a longer time than she wished to remain with Al-Ghazal addressed to the queen love-poeims that are still preserved, and which are the true reason why a literary Arab later on wrote down the As a whole it gives us a curiously intimate picture of tale at such length. household in the Viking period, as it appeared to an royal Scandinavian a

was not bound him.

accomplished Spanish Moor.

we

one-sided; for

From our

point of view, the story

are, strictly speaking, only

is

reigrettably

informed of the aimbassador's

Her name is spelt Ud, Nud, or Aud. She must have handsome woman, and obviously greatly fascinated by the ambassa-

relations to the queen.

been

a

dor.

It

is

certain that al-Chazal stayed in a Scandinavian king's residence;

but unfortunately it

was

we

Ireland, as has

cannot be quite sure of the country.

been suggested

first

The odds are

that

by Steenstrup, then by Alexander

Bugge.*

The emir,

naturally, addressed himself to the country that

starting-point of the expedition to Andalusia.

We

was the nearest

must, therefore, recall

once more the participation of Vikings from Ireland in the next great expedition to Spain in the years 859 860 after which black thralls were sold in

—

Ireland.

From

this

we may

fairly infer that contingents

from Ireland may

very likely have also taken part in the expedition of 844, which occasioned The Norwegians had for a long time been familiar al-Chazal's mission. with the old sea-route from Ireland to Spain; Alexander Bugge has pointed out features that testify to these connections having been kept

up

all

through

Normannerne II, p. 113. — Alexander Bugge: Norges Historie, Kristiania The Danish historian Fabricius earlier guessed at Zealand, L'Ambassade 1910 I, d'Al-Ghazal aupres du rai des Normands; his conjecture is hardly convincing, as he has to explain away essential features of the voyage itself. — Eyvind Kvalen has tried to show that the country visited was some part of Norway, Viken or perhaps rather Hordaland, but his exposition too makes the distances of the voyage out to have been quite out of pro'

Steenstrup: 2, p. 80.

—

portion to the tacts given by the account. ciently well with the tale, so that

we may

—

is the only country that agrees suffia probability that al-Ghazal went there.

Ireland

call

it

C h a p the 10th century. the boot>' taken

When is

t

e r

XI

139

the Irish took Limerick from: the Norwegians in 968, have contained beautiful forei^ saddles and

stated to

magnificent variegated silk garmerats, both scarlet and green. Bugge rightly holds that objects of that kind must have been Imports from Moorish Spain.^ Everything goes to prove that the Arabs imagined Ireland to be the home-

country of the infidels, and that the embassy really met, in that country, a king whose subjects had taken part in the expedition. The king also sent a letter back to the emir, but the result of the mission is not mentioned. This diplomatic application did not, at any rate, prevent the next Viking expedition to Spain and Africa from; 859 to 861. last to reign for a

We

very long time.

possess,

But after it

is true,

it,

peace was

at

short records of

solitary Viking surprises in 910, 926,

and 951; but there are no reliable details, is at all based on facts. The first reliable account of another expedition to Spain dates from the year 964, as mentioned earlier in connection with Richard I of Normandy. He hired a Viking fleet for a feud against Count Thibaut of Chartres, and after a campaign, carried out successfully, he found it difficult to induce the hired army to leave the country. Hitting upon a clever expedient, he gave them pilots for an expedition to Spain; where they destroyed 18 towns and defeated an army levied in the country; on the battle-field, according to the report, lay the bodies of many black men too, from Ethiopia. This attack must have been directed against the north coast, probably also against the coast about Lissabon, it may have been the same army that returned to Lissabon, and to Sivilla, in 966. Two years later the Northmen were once more on the coasts af Asturia and Galicia with a fleet of 100 ships. They poured into the countrj' in all directions, spreading awful destruction as they went; and nobody was strong enough to stop them. We receive the impression that plans had been formed to carry out a real conquest, followed by settlement, on the precedent

and

it

may be

doubtful whether this information

by Normandy. The opportunity was favourable. Tlie king was a child of five years old, Ramiro III, and his mother and sister were to bear rule; but the lords of the land were fighting each other, contending for supremacy. The Northmien remained in the country for three years, when they were at length completely defeated by the Count of Galicia, Gonsalo Sanchez, at Ferrol (970). This was the most serious attack made by the Vikings on the Pyrenean peninsula, but it was also the last. Later on we only find reports of a few occasional descents, such as the sack of the town of Lugo effected in 984, the visit that Olav Haraldson may perhaps have paid to the west coast in 1014, set

"

Alexander Bu^ge, Vesterlandenes indflydelse paa Nordboernes og

ydre kultur, levesaet og samtundsforhold Historisk-filosofisk Klasse 1904, No.

1,

i

vikingetiden.

pp. 183—184.

saerlig

Nordmsendenes

Videnskaps-Selskapets Skrifter

Chrietiania 1905.

II,

140

Chapter XI

another rapid raid in 1016, and finally one in 1026. We are here at the limit The Viking period is coming to a close, while at the same set to our task.

time the Crusading times are drawing near, when crusaders from the North too found it meritorious to attack the Moors in Spain. Another Norwegian king set sail for the same coast less than a hundred years later than Olav Haraldson."

" A. Fabricius, Konstoge fra Norden til den Spanske Halvo, Aarboger Oldkyndighed og Historie, Kjebenhavn, 1900, p. 16.

tor

nordisk

CHAPTER

XII.

THE DANISH CONQUEST OF ENGLAND. Edgar had become king of all England in 959. He was 16 years old, conand dwarfish in stature; but by his side stood one of the great personages of English history, Archbishop Dunstan of Canterbury, who cooducted the government. Dunstan was zealous for the restoration of the church and the monasterieis; but at the same time he devoted serious attention to the defence of the country. The naval forces, oonsisting of 3600 vessels, were kept in splendid order during Edgar's reign, and the fleet was called out for training purposes every year. And, indeed, no ^^iking attacks are mentioned in his time. Home politics were stamped by a spirit of reconcilation between the various races within the kingdom.. More frequently than stitutionally feable,

ever before we find men bearing Scandinavian names taking part in government actions and in judicial determinations; and Anglo-Saxon authors at the same time complain that Danish habits of life were adopted in England, that the bad customs oif the foreigners found their way into the very court of the king. Many details go to prove that contemporary England felt strongly the national difference between the Anglo-Saxons and the Danes, and that there was an appreciable difference between Danes and Norwegians in Northern

England.

Nor did the king stand in the same relation to the various races. The Danelaw was self-govering, had its own legislation and administration of law,

A acknowledging only the formal suzerainty of the king, his overlordship Moreover I will that such good decree issued by Edgar runs as follows: laws prevail among the Danes as they may best choose, which I have always allowed, and will allow, to them in return for their fealtj^ which they have always shown to me. And further: let the Danes choose by their own laws what punishment they will exact for this. ^^ This is an open recognition of the autonomy of the Danelaw. As late as the 12th century there existed in this part of the country a free peasantry unparalleled in Southern England. Socially, too, as well as in the matter of proprietary rights, there was mani.

' The Raleisih Lecture on History 1927. F. M. Stenton: The Danes in England. ceedings of the British Academy, vol. XIII, London.

Pro-

C h a p

142

t

e r

XII

profound difference between the two nations. But Edgar must have had great personal qualificationis for ensuring their union. He was a royal prince of Wessex, he had been brought up in East Anglia where the speech was largely Danish, and he had been king of Scandinavian North-England before he became king of all England. He was also recognised as overlord of the Isle of Man, by the kings Maccus and Gudrod, sons of Harald (se above p. 38). There was probably some covenant between these kings conquering Anglesey and Edgar attempting to subject Wales, in Vv-hich, indeed, he

festly a

suceeded.

The great event

of Edgar's reign

great day must have

seemed

was

his coronation in Bath in 973.

to his contemporaries to

the calamities of the Viking period, Edgar

mark

now holding

That

the close of all

the position of king

over a unified and pacified England. He was 29 years of age, and in the 14th year of his reign. The coronation was magnificently prepared; innumerable invitations were sent out to grandees throughout the kings's dominions. On Whitsunday a brilliant procession moved to the church, where the cere-

mony was conducted by Archbishop Dunstan with

the greatest solemnity.

After a great review of the

fleet, the king sailed north to Chester to hold a meeting of his national counsil (a witenagemot). On the river Dee by Chester Kenneth of he went to divine service in a boat rowed by eight kings, viz. Scotland, Malcolm of Cumberland, Dufnall of Strathchlyde, Sigfred, Jacob, and Howel from Wales, Juchil of Westmoreland, and Maccus of Man. The event is undoubtedly historical. All the kings mentioned may be proved to have lived at the time, and to have recognised King Edgar as their overlord. It was the most glorious day in the history of the West Saxon kings, a symibol of the fact that the whole of England had at last been united under one Anglo-

—

Saxon

sceptre.

Two

years after

— in 975 — King Edgar died, 32 years of age.

His eldest

Edward, 13 years old at the time, was murdered within three years, and succeeded by his brother ^thelred, a boy of 10. Rarely, we should think, did a people, in the short space of one man's lifetime, undergo such calamitous vicissitudes as those that were now to follow. Immediately after the death of Edgar an internal weakness made itself felt in the government, and during the minority of ^thelred, the queen being his guardian, we perceive not a little disorganisation. Edgar's firm hand was there no longer, to hold

s.on,

the reins, and Diuistan was an old man. He died in 988. Five years after the death of Edgar Vikings reappeared on the coasts, at Thanet, at Southampton, at Chester. In the couple of years immediately following they returned to the south-coast of

Devon.

Then there was

a six years' pause; but in 988

was an invasion of Somierset by Norwegians from Ireland. At the same time there was trouble in the Irish Sea, the Orkney Earl Sigurd the Stout there

Chapter Xll

143

Man

undertaking sm expedition to the Hebrides and

(se above, p. 38),

also reported that the Jomsviking Palnatoki visited England and

it

is

Wales

at

Troubled times had returned, as soon as the rumour spread that Edgar's naval defence was no longer kept up as before. An attack on a larger scale was made in 991, when England was visited by a fleet of 390 sliips led by Olav, Justin, and Guthmund. Not for a hundred years, not since the invasion of Hasting in 892, had such a force as this effected a disembarkment on Anglo-Saxon soil and, as the events were soon to prove, the enemy was this time a veritable army, trained in war and led by able commianders. Throughout the 10th century Westem^ Europe had been spared the attacks of great expeditions from the North. Since the death of Rollo about 930 West Francia had been left practically unmolested, and the English kings at the same time bad been able to concentrate all their forces on the recovery of the Danelaw and Northumbria, safe from the danger of any impending new invasion, when imexpectedly Viking activity began afresh, Olav Tryggvason appearing on the scene in 991. We are in this case fortunate enough to

this time.

;

possess information of the more important features of the chieftain's earlier

known

from a reliable source, viz. the skald Hallfred's Olafsdrapa.- This is a poem in honour of Olav, praising the king's great deeds by enumerating his victorious battles in many countries, and the poem is beyond a doubt reliable as far as this information about facts is concerned. We leam from it that Olav at the atge of 12 years fitted out his ships from Gardarike, i. e. from Swedish Russia. He fought on the coast of Bornholm and in the east in Gardarike; he felled Jemtlanders (in Sweden) and Vends (Slavs in Northern Germany), gained victories in Gothland and in Scania; he cut down warriors in Denmark south of Hedeby; Saxons, Frisians, Flemings career; they are

victims to his sword.

fell

in

to us

Northumbria, It

may be

Then

follows the expedition to England, fights

in Scotland, in the Isle of

poem

Man, and

army thus threatening England Olav Tryggvason had been brought up in Russia and

inferred from the

came from the Baltic; had served his apprenticeship

that the

in piratical raids

(

strandhogg

Gothland, and in Bornholm. According to the Saga he land,

i.

in Ireland.

made

)

in

Sweden,

in

a sojourn in Vend-

the Polish state founded by Micislaw and inherited by Boleslav the According to legend Olav here married a high-bom widow Geira,

e.

Brave.

It may be probable that he entered till her death. the service of the Slavs in their continual frontier struggles with Saxons and Danes, and that, at this time, he may have had some connection with Joms-

staying on in the country

borg, the Danish outpost against the Slavs.

°

Finnur J6hnsson:

ania 1912,

p. 148.

Den

In the Baltic Viking life

norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning, B,

I.

was

Kjobenhavn og

still

Kristi-

Chapter Xll

144

was from there Olav started on his expedition to Flanders and England with an army of Norwegians, Danes, Goths (of Gotaland), and The planning of an expedition to fresh hunting-^grounds must Slavs.' evidently have assiembled professional warriors and pirates from all the Baltic coasts, and the chieftain himself was likewise a homeless adventurer, an exiled royal prince who had barely seen his native land. It is, too, the first time we possess information about an expedition of any importance to Western Europe made by Vikings from the Baltic. rampant, and

The

it

must have touched at Frisia and Flanders before the army disembarked on the bank of the Thames, ravaging the country around. From here the Vikings sailed to Sandwich on the coast of Kent, then northwards to Ipswich in Suffolk, and then again south to Essex. Here the battle of Maldon was fought, one of the famous actions of Viking history. The ealdorman Brihtnoth of Essex levied the militia and advanced upon the Viking army, fleet

himself at the very beginning of the battle his army of peasants fled, while Brihtnoth's household troops fought to the last man. The battle is depicted in a contemporary memorial poem in honour of the fallen Brihtbut

fell

;

noth; and his wife embroidered on linen a presentation of the battle, giving

monastery of Ely in which Brihtnoth was buried. Even at that time the battle of Maldon impressed people's minds as a turning-point in history. It was more than a hundred years since a Viking army had come off victorious it

to the

in ancient English land.

But nobody, surely, imagined, at the time, that such a reverse could mean grave danger to the kingdom. The army had been victorious in an engagement with the Essex militia, but that was no reason for raising the armed forces of the country for a regular war against a band of foreign pirates. Following the advice of Archbishop Sigeric of Canterbury and others, the government chose to pacify the army by conciliatory methods and by offering alliance. Peace was formally concluded. The army was paid 10000 pounds of silver,

and was to be provisioned for the remainder of its stay in the country; definite arrangements were agreed upon concerning the relations between the army and the inhabitants of the country. The idea of it all evidently was to secure the services of the army for the English, while disarming an inconvenient enemy.'' And the army does, indeed, seem to have participated in English operations in Wales in the following spring."

' Historia Norwegiae, fol, 9, b.: augmentabant enim eius classem Norvagensis ac Dani, " The aim of the English peace policy towards the army has Gautones et Sclaui. been lucidly pointed out by Hilaire Belloc: A history of England I, London 1925, p. 307. ^ Steenstrup: Normannerne III, pp. 238—239.

C h

a

p

t

e r

XII

145

The events now following can only be explained by a reference to the among the rulers of England. We learn that vEthelred

inner dissensions

secretly called out the best ships from the whole country, for a sudden assault upon the Viking fleet. But the plan was betrayed by the ealdorman ^Ifric, and the army launched another attack, this time farther north, in the Danelaw. The Vikings stormed Bamborough, sailed up the Humber to Lindsey and Northumbria, burning towns, killing people, and plundering. Local levies tried to offer resistance, but fled without any serious fighting; and the army Svein Forkbeard, who was King of Denmark since the got reinforcements. death of Harald Bluetooth (about 986), now came to England and joined Olav Tryggvason. In September 994 they sailed together to attack London, but suffered heavy losses and were repulsed. Instead of London the coasts of Essex, Kent, Sussex, and Hampshire were made to suffer. The army procured horses and rode far into the country, slaying and burning. ^thelred once more resorted to negotiations. The Vikings were allowed to take up their winter quarters by Southampton, where the whole army was All sorts of provisions were to be furnished for the winter by collected. Wessex, and the whole of England had to pay a fresh tribute of 16000 pounds of silver. Olav was invited to meet ^thelred, hostages having been given to In Andover he was confirmed as a the army in pledge of his security. Christian by Bishop ^Ifheah of Winchester, the king himself being his sponsor and adopting him as his son. And Olav kept his promise, never waging war against England after that. Svein too returned to Denmark. The

country enjoyed peace for three years.

The army, which

been left behind in the country after the conclusion of the last peace, sailed round Devonshire and plundered on the Severn. It was, we may be sure, joined, too, by bands of other Vikings who had latterly made attacks on the Elbe and the Weser. The fleet settled down into permanent quarters on the coast of the Isle of Wight, and from this starting-point they carried on their pillages The Angloin England summer after summer on an ever increasing scale. Saxon community seemed to have lost all power of defending itself. Its army was paralysed by treason and internal disagreements, and the spirit of resistance was weakened by the very calamity that had befallen the country. After four years of suffering, England again had to come to terms promising danegeld, this time the sum of 24000 pounds of silver, which was paid too. But the fleet remained at Wight as before. Now it was that jEthelred decided to make use of the most fatal of all the dangerous remedies he had tried. It is said to have come about in the following way: a report had reached him of a conspiracy of all the Danes in England aiming at putting the king himself to death and bringing the whole But

to

—

in

997 fresh troubles arose.

Viking Antiquities.

is

said to have

Chapter Xll

146

kingdom under foreign sway. JSthelred sent secret messages to all the towns them to strike a decisive blow by killing off all the Danes on an appointed day, viz. the 13th of November 1002. The scheme did not include the Danelaw and Northumbria, where an enterprise of this nature would have been impracticable, in the midst of a population largely and in some localities even predominantly of Scandinavian extraction. The planned massacre was meant to take effect against the Danes settled in purely Anglo-Saxon land during the recent troublous years, many of these Danes being in the king's service, some of them in high positions too. The invasion of the Viking army during these years had, then, led to a considerable immiof England, exhorting

—

—

gration of Scandinavians into England, followed by a corresponding anta-

gonism to the strangers. The racial hatred, so easy to understand after all the deeds of the Vikings in the country, caused ^thelred's scheme to succeed only too well. On St. Brice's day a real massacre took place. It was a case of wholesale murder often attended with cruelty. Among the persons killed was a prominent grandee, Pallig, of Danish extraction, who had once, at a critical moment deserted ^thelred to join the Vikings. His wife Gunhild, a sister of King Svein of Denmark, was also killed, and in the presence of her husband who was compelled to look on as an additional revenge for his desertion.

^thelred could not have hit upon a plan more pregnant with disastrous To a massacre bound to call forth the desire of revenge in so many minds, he added that most violent personal defiance of King Svein of Denmark himself. And Svein, sure enough, came with his fleet the year after. In 1003 and 1004 he ravaged England more relentlessly than ever, penetratIn 1005 he had to retire to ing farther Into the country than ever before. Denmark owing to famine in England, but in July 1006 he was back again. In the same year a Scottish invasion had been successfully repulsed in Northumbria, but in the South the Danish army went ravaging through half the country without any appreciable resistance being offered to its advance, taking up once more its winter camp on the Isle of Wight. In the middle of the winter they undertook two fresh expeditions for the purpose of provisioning themselves till, at last, ^thelred bought a peace for the price of 36000 pounds of silver. The English government made use of the two next years to enforce new laws of military service, and about the equipment of the navy, which was But the first attempt at mobilising to be collected every year after Easter. the navy (1009) ended in internal dissensions among the leaders, damage done to the ships, and disbandment of the fleet. New Danish fleets landed and with him the Norwegian Olav at Sandwich under Thorkel the Tall Haraldsson under Eilif and Hemming. The defence was paralysed by consequences.

—

—

—

,

Chapter XII

147

army was in command of the situation. The chronicles give very exact information about the plundering expeditions, and we see that England had never been devastated so extensively and systematically. All English provinces were visited. The king and his council then offered providissensions; the Danisii

and a tribute in return for peace. The proposal was accepted, the danegeld being assessed at 48000 pounds of silver. But it took time to raise the sum, and in the meantime the army advanced on Canterbury. The town was betrayed by an abbot, the houses were fired, priests and nuns were led captive, and the church acquired another saint by the Vikings mxirdering Archbishop ^Ifheah, who had baptised Olav Tryggvason amidst shameful tortures and outrages as an entertainment at a drinking-bout. At length the danegeld was paid down, and the army dispersed. Only Thorkel the Tall, with 45 ships, entered the service of the English king and remained in the sions

—

—

country (1012).

No country can be more utterly degraded and stripped of its wealth than England was at this time. During the last decade a sum of 120000 pounds of silver had been extorted as danegeld, while at the same time the country had been fleeced by the exaction of provisions for the Viking army and by relentless robbery on the largest scale. The defensive system had been broken down by mutiny and by internal dissensions among the leaders, often by treason too; and in addition to all this, the Viking army had evidently been decidedly superior, in military skill, to the Anglo-Saxon levies. The Danelaw and Northumbria continued to be very loosely attached to the kingdom, and we have no record of people from these lands having contributed to the defence of the country. The hired army led by Thorkel the Tall was in reality the only reliable force at the king's disposal. In July 1013 King Svein crossed the North Sea with a mighty fleet.

He

landed at Sandwich; but thereupon he turned northwards to the Humber, proclaiming aloud his claim to the English throne. All Northern England, the ancient Viking states, submitted at once, offering horses and provisions. Svein then proceeded southwards across Watling Street, and opened the war with appalling devastations. The country was struck with terror. Oxford the Danish and Winchester surrendered; but London stood firm, repulsing attack. Svein marched his army westwards, to Bath, carrying all before him. The grandees of the country came to Svein and offered him the crown.

London

itself

submitted.

.^thelred was

now deserted by

August he had sent Queen

Emma

all

As early as Edward and and when London fell,

except Thorkel the Tall.

and his two sons by her,

Alfred, to Normandy, to his brother-in-law Richard

II,

he himself sailed off to the Isle of Wight. About Christmas he too crossed over to Normandy. Svein was then recognised as sole king of all England.

148

Chapter Xll

died only a few weeks after, on the 3rd of February 1014. The army in England chose as his successor on the throne his son Cnut, who was 19 years old at the time and had been left in charge of the fleet at Gainsborough in Lindsey. But English grandees decided to recall ^thelred, who arrived in London during Leut, 1014. Cnut took the field, but could not hold his ground and so set sail for Denmark. The English cut down the Danes wherever they

He

could, all over the country.

^thelred was once more king of a united England; but that very year the among the grandees of the land broke out into open hostilities. Eadrik Streona, Earl of Mercia and married to the king's daughter, murdered Edmund, the Earls of Northumbria, Morcar and Sigfred at a witenagemot. the king's son married the widow of Sigfred, and made himself master of the Five Boroughs, in open defiance of his father. The king again secured the assistance of Thorkel the Tall and his fleet, by the payment of 21000 poimds of silver. Cnut, however, came back from Denmark, assisted by his brother Harald and by the Swedish king Olav, as well as by a Norwegian force under Earl Eric. Eadric of Mercia went over to the enemy, making homage to Cnut; Thorkel the Tall broke his agreement with the king, joining the Danes. Earl Uhtred surrendered Northumbria, but was murdered at an interview. Earl dissensions

Eric being appointed as his successor in York. Ulvketil of East Anglia offered resistance, but was defeated. Edmund Ironside alone continued the struggle,

young as he was, while ^thelred himself was staying in London. The king died here on the 23rd of April 1016. The leading men in the country assembled in witenagemot, in Southampton, where they chose Cnut to be king of all England, thereby excluding Edmund from the succession. But Edmund kept London, and here he assembled his own witenagemot, in which he was elected king; and he now proved a worthy descendant of the great Wessex kings, unquestionably the only prominent leader among the Anglo-Saxons at that moment. Leaving a force behind him He was successful in to defend London, he went west to collect an army. minor engagements, and the number of his followers increased. He forced Cnut to raise the siege of London. The tide seemed to be turning, and Eadric of Mercia now deserted Cnut, giving his support to Edmund. Cnut was driven away as far east as Sheppey on the Thames, and had to sail north to Essex. Edmund went in pursuit, and there was a battle at Assundon. During the fight Eadric played traitor, drawing back his force. Edmund lost the battle and that same Eadric now stepped in as mediator between him and Cnut. An agreement was come to, giving to Edmund the title of over-king and the full possession of the ancient kingdom of Alfred south of the Thames and of Watling Street, with the frontier extended so as to include Essex. England was for the last time divided along nearly the

same

line of

demarcation as

at

C h

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XI

149

Guthrum's peaee in 878, and this peace was no more than its predecessor to be of long duration. Edmund Ironside died in the same year on Nov. 30th 1016, and Cnut became king of all England at the age of just above 20. It is not within our province here to describe Cnut's rule in England. It

was conducted

in a purely English spirit. It was expressly decided at a meeting in Oxford in 1018 that the country was to be governed according to the law of Edgar, that is to say on lines of Anglo-Saxon statecraft. It is true

that

Cnut's reign started with the killing of prominent English grandees.

Eadric Streona, ^thelred's chief councillor and appointed Earl of Mercia by Cnut himself, was murdered at a peaceful meeting, and with him the three leading ealdormen, Nor5man, ^thelwerd, and Bihtric. Other Anglo-Saxon grandees were driven into exile, many of these however applying success-

At the same time the hugest danegeld England ever had to pay was assessed upon the country, viz. 10500 pounds upon London alone, and 72O0O pounds upon the rest of the country. But this too was a measure for the securing of peace, it was money

fully for a reconciliation with the king afterwards.

pay off the army and the fleet, which were to be sent home, and so had to be paid in order that they might depart without breaking the peace. Cnut retained only a comporatively small hired force of 40 ships which was in the position held by Thorkel the Tall under ^thelred. Even before Cnut's reign these guards had been termed Thingmannalid, and were organised as a fraternity, a closed society bound by strict rules similar to those reported to have been observed by the garrison of Jomsborg. The Thingmannalid existed as a permanent institution down to the battle of Hasting where it fought for to

the last time.

Finally Cnut sealed his position as an English king by marrying ./Ethel-

Emma

Normandy, who the year after bore him the son Hardecnut, heir to his English throne. It was decided in due form that the older royal dynasty was excluded from the succession, ^thelred's sons, Edward and Alfred, remained in Normandy, and Edmund Ironside's two infant sons were sent far away, to Sweden, and, later on, to Hungary. Cnut had earlier two sons, Harald and Svein, by a high-born English lady ^Ifgifu. He now sent her away with her two sons, first to Denmark, later on to Norway, where she held the reins of government for their son Svein from 1030 to 1035. It red's widow,

is

of

not within our province to trace Cnut's Scandinavian policy, his various But his rule as King

expeditions to Denmark, to Vendland, and to Norway.

England had its troubles too. Thorkel the Tall, who was now Earl of East Anglia and a prince wielding royal power, was outlawed in England. Earl Eric of Northumbria, died suddenly in 1023 while preparing a voyage to Rome (or possibly immediately after his return from Rome), and later rumours of

were

to the effect that his

death suited the king's convenience.

Eric's son.

Chapter XII

150

Hakon, succeeded him as earl at York, and so came to be the last Norwegian ruler in Northern England. After the conquest of Norway Hakon Ericsson was appointed governor of that country under Cnut; but he was called back to England the very next year, as suspected by Cnut, though promises of a friendly nature were given to him. Hakon never arrived at his destination; his ship is said to have been seen in the late autumn in the Pentland Firth, and he is reported ho have been killed in Orkney. King Cnut must surely have possessed a highly developed faculty of getting rid of dangerous grandees, which faculty contributed quite as much as anthying else to making his reign in England the time of peace so sorely needed by the country. He died on the 12th of November 1035.

Even though Cnut ruled over the Anglo-Saxons according to English law, was not to be avoided that his government should come to strengthen the Scandinavian elements in the country. Even the earlier invasion led by Olav Tryggvason from 991 onwards, had led to a considerable addition to the

it

Scandinavian population settled in England, as may be seen during the masThe subsequent campaigns and conquests must have carried

sacre of 1002.

new emigrants from

the North across the sea in a continual flow, and

many

must have settled down in the country though the armies were disbanded. The union with Denmark from 1019, and with Norway too from 1028, must, as a matter of course, have opened up the road for continued immigration. It should be remembered too, in this connection, that the conquest of England was carried out by the aid of combined forces from the whole of Scandinavia. The road had been opened up by a Norwegian chieftain, Olav Tryggvason, with an army made up from all the Scandinavian countries. On his expeditions from 1003 to 1013 Svein Forkbeard was, after the battle of Svold, also master of the greater part of Norway, and had undoubtedly raised levies from that country too, as did Cnut for his expedition to England in 1015. On that expedition Cnut was also supported by his half-brother. King Olav of Sweden. A number of Swedish runic stones offord additional evidence of Swedish participation in the expeditions to England all of these emigrants

the time from the nineties of the 10th century to Cnut's last expedition.'

We

may mention by way of examples a stone by Orkesta in Uppland, from which we learn that Ulv had taken danegeld in England three times, the first time under Toste, the second time under Thorkel, and finally under Cnut. The Grinda-stone in Sedermanland, according to von Friesen, mentions two Norwegians, Grjotgard and Eindride, whose father Gudvir had visited England and received danegeld there.

'

otto von Friesen:

Runorna

We i

would also

recall that

Norwegian chieftains

Sverige, Uppsala, 3rd edition 1928, pp.

.50

ff.

Chapter XII were freely allowed

to

stay in

151

England while engaged

in rebellion against

Olav Haraldson.

The state of affairs during Cnut's reign taken into account, it might seem very likely that Scandinavian influence should come to be decisive for the future nationality of England. But things were to take a different course. fell from power after the brief and troubled reigns of Harald Harefoot, son of Cnut and ^Ifgifu (1036—40), and of Hardecnut, Cnut's son by Emma (1040 42). Edward, ^thelred's son by Emma, had by that time been declared heir to the throne, and with him the last scion of the Wessex dynasty became king of England. But his accession inaugurated the

The Danish dynasty

—

Norman influence, at new factor in the contentions for supremacy in England. Edward was brought up Normandy where he had lived from his 13th to his 40th year. His court was strongly stamped with the influence of his Norman surroundings, the great lords and ecclestiastics that came to England in his i

train.

Quite often, too, the King was visited by his young kinsman, William

the Bastard,

Duke

of

Normandy. The King had no children, and

be doubted that William was

at

an early date forming plans

it

to

can hardly

ensure his

succession to the throne.

On

the opposite side

and so closely

was Earl Godwin, married

allied with the

Danish

djaiasty.

to a

daughter of Earl Ulv

He held

the first place in the

King's council after the death of Thorkel the Tall; and he was Earl of Wessex, Kent, and Sussex.

His son Svein had Mercia, his son Harald Essex and East

As shown by

names, this family represented a union of AngloSaxon and Scandinavian blood, and of the interests of both races. An alliance was concluded by the king marrying Godwin's daughter, Edith, in 1043; but Godwin became the real ruler of the country, in spite of quarrels and risings. By his side we find Leofric, an Anglo-Saxon, as lord of the northern part of the Five Boroughs from Lindsey to Chester, and Sivard, the bearer of a Scandinavian name, as ruler of Northumbria. The country was divided among over-powerful vassals, and Godwin and his sons, above all others, had far more power than the king himself. Godwin was succeeded, on his death in 1053, by his son Harald, who proved himself worthy of his high position by Anglia.

their

—58)

and by the conquest of Wales in 1063. It was quite natural, and undoubtedly for the true good of the kingdom, that the crown should be offered to him on Edward's death in 1066.

his

campaigns

We we

in

Scotland (1055

are not going to recount the eventful history of that

memorable year;

shall confine ourselves to recalling that a claim to the inheritance of

Eng-

land was yet once advanced from a Scandinavian quarter. Magnus the Good, as King of Denmark and the heir of Hardecnut, had proclaimed his right to the English throne, disputing the title of Edward the Confessor; but his claim

had been repudiated and he did not prosecute

it

any further. His successor,

C h

152

a p

t

e r

XII

Harald Hardrade, had, indeed, renounced his claims to Denmark, but on Edward's death he none the less laid claim to the English throne, and so came to end his adventurous career in the battle of Stamford Bridge. Not till three years later was a Danish attempt made to reconquer England under the leadership of Asbjorn, son of Earl Ulv, and Harald and Cnut, both sons of King Svein Estridsson. They were supported by the people of Northumbria, and seized York, but could not hold their ground against William. Their expedition had for its only result a merciless devastation of Northumbria inflicted on the land as a punishment for its disloyalty. Finally, as the last e^'fort, the royal prince Cnut and Earl Hakon undertook an expedition to England in 1075, but it failed. The Scandinavian kingdoms on English soil were definitely given up. But they survived in the memory of men. Thus speaks the Heimskringla: Northumbria was mostly settled by Norwegians since Lodbrok's sons had won the country; but Danes and Norwegians often ravaged there after they had lost their sway over the land. Many place-names are there rendered in the Norse tongue: Grimsboer and Hauksfljot and many others.^ In Snorre Scandinavian England has definitely receded into the world of history.

'

Heimskringla, ed, C. R. Unger, Christiana 1868. Saga Hdljouar g6da, cliapler

3,

p. 85.

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Trondhjem 1929. Bremner, R. L.: Notes on the Norsemen in Argyllshire and on the Clyde. Saga Book of the Viking Club. III. Ancient Emigrants, A Brogger, A. W.:

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in

Scotland, Oxford 1929.

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arhundrede

Tidsskrift K. 5. vol.

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Orknoyene. Skrifter utgitt av det Norske Videnskaps-Akademi i Oslo, II, Hist. Filos. klasse 1930, No. 3, Oslo 1930. Bugge, Alexander: Ganger-Rolv og Erobringen av Normandi, Historisk Tidsskrift, R. 5. vol. 1. Kristiania 1912. Tidsrummet ca. 800 1030. (Korges

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—

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Bronze

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i

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Leiden 1924. Dorestad en onze vroegste Middeleeuwen, Leiden 1924. Opgravingen van Dorestad, Oudheidkundige Mededeelingen, nieuwe reeks XI, Leiden 1930. Hougeii, Bjeni: Trekk av ostnorsk romertid, Universitetets oldsakssamlings skrifter II, Oslo 1929. Shetlandsoernes StedsJacobsen, Jacob: navne, Aarboger for Nordisk Oldkyndighed og Historic, Kjobcnha\n

— —

1901.

Jdhnsson, Finnitr:

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to the

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Collingwood,

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norsk-islandske

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—

i

norsk

Historisk Tidsskrift, R.

?

Seippel, Alexander :

Ei norsk ferd

kring 1040.

Afrika

til

Historisk Tidsskrift, R.

Hill,

Shctclig,

—

Rig. Stockholm 1925.

Early Wars of

Carl J. S.: Bidrag til det norske folks historie Irland. Skrifter utgitt av Videnskapsselskapet Kristi-

Marstrander,

1

i

i

— Det

II, Hist. Filos. klasse,

Norske landnam pa

Man

No.

5.

.

Oslo 1932.

[

Mawpy, Allan Ragnar Lothbrok and his Sons. The Saga Book of the Mking

landet, Oldtiden III.

Stavanger 1913.

Nye jernaldersfund pa Vestlandet.

Berg.

— —

kvarisk rekke nr.

2.

Prehistoire de la Norvege.

Oslo 1926.

The Cruciform Brooches of Norway, Bergens Museums Arbok 1906. Steenstrup, Johannes C. H. R.: Normannerne 11, Vikingetogene mot vest det 9de arhundrede. Kjobenhavn 1878. Etudes sur le temps des Vikings, 2. Prise de Luna en Italie. Bulletin i

Norsk sprogvidenskap, vol. VI,

tidsskrift for

— 1928.

Haakon: Arabiske mynter pi Vest-

Mus. Arbok 1916—17. Historisk-anti-

W'tsse.x,

Cambridge 1913.

ania 1915,

Oslo 1896

5.

Lnidqvisi, Sitne: Inglingehogen och Tvnwall

Major, Albany F.:

Rerum Normannicarum

fontes Arabici.

Oslo 1927.

vol. 4.

et son

XX

5. vol. 4.

Oslo 1927. Kvdlen, Eivind:

Caen 1926.

emploi dans leNord del'Europeetc. Annalesdu Congres archeologique ct historiquc de Belgique. Gand 1907.

Nar levde Harald Harfagre og sonenc hans

Le Feu

Sarautu, Georg F. L.:

—

•

de

Club YI.

Munch, P. A.: Det norske Folks Historie. Christiania 1852—59. Symbolae ad historian! antiquiorem rerum Norwegicarum. Christiania 1850. Neer guard, Carl: Thinghoie og Thingdysser. Aarboger for Nord. Oldk. 1902. Nerman, Birger: Die Verbindungen zwischen Skandinavien und dem Ostbalticum in der jiingeren Eisenzeit. Kimgl. \'itterhets, Historie och Antikvitets Akadcmiens Handlingar 40:1, Stockholm. fran Grobin. Statens Hist.

seum, Utstallning Katalog, No.

4.

Arran,

Scotland.

selskapcts skrifter 1912.

No.

1.

Videnskaps-

II. Hist, filos.

klasse

Kristiania 1912.

Paasche, Fredrik: Norsk Litteraturhistoric. Kristiania 1924. Prentout, Henri:

Etude

critique sur

Storm, Gustav:

Dudon

de St. Quentin et son histoirc des premiers Duos Normands. Paris 1910.

Kritiske Bidrag

tidens historie. Tallgren,

et

des Kjo-

til

\-ikingc-

Kristiania 1878.

A. M.: Ristimaki gravfalt Finskt Museum.

Karins,

i

St.

Helsingfors

1915.

Walther: Die Normannen und das Frankische Reich bis zur Griindung der Normandie (799-911). Heidelberg 1906. Zur nord- und westeuropaischen Sec-

Vogel,

Stock-

i

Island,

Sciences

benhavn 1923. F. M.: The Danes in England. The Raleigh Lecture on History 1927. Proceedings of the British Academy, Vol. XIII. London.

Mu-

holm 1930. Olsen, Magnus: Gange-Rolvs Strandhugg. Mai og Minne. Kristiania 1912. Runerne St. Molaise's celle pa Holy

—

des

Stenton,

—

Fynden

I'Acad^mie

Lettres de Daneniark 1922—23.

—

schiffahrt sische

im

friihen Mittelalter.

Geschichtsbliitter,

XIII,

Han1907.

Worsaae, J. f. A.: Nordiske oldsager i det Kjobenhavn. KjoKongelige Museum i

benhavn 1859. Ziinmer, H.: Auf wclchem Wege kamen die Goidelen vom Kontinent nach Irland. Abhandlungen der K. preussischen .Vkademie

der \\'isscnschaften,

Phil. hist. Classe.

1912,

GENERAL INDEX Abderrahman

137.

135,

II.

Andernach. 117, 121. Andover. 145.

Accolb. 72.

Angers. 113, 115

Achadbo.

Anglesey'.

Adam

68.

Bremen. 23 f. Aedh of Connaught. 64. Aedh son of Echu. 37.

Aedh

of

Finnliath.

124,

59.

Aedh, King of Ireland. 63. Aedh, son of Xiall. 5S, 68. Aedh, Pictish king. 67. Africa. 19, 26, 117, 134, 139.

Agder. 32.

38

f,

Aquitaine. 12 105, 110

f,

Aix-la-Chapelle. 109, 119.

Alan of Brittany. 102, 129.

Argyllshire. 32.

Alba. 33.

Arklow. 67. Aries. 113.

Armagh.

106.

Alexandria. 136.

70

Alfred the Great, 16, 19, 65, 79, 82 ff, 88, 91 f, 94, 96, 101, 118, 124,

128,

148.

Alfred, son of ylithelred. 147, 149.

Algar the Younger. 82. al-Ghazal,

see

Haquam.

Jahja-ilm

al

49

the Deep-minded.

f.,

nes). 90.

Aurland. 55. Aun Fila (Onphile

Avranches. 129. An. 66. Asulv. 66.

54.

f,

64,

68,

66,

K Bagsecg. 83. Balearic Isles. 26, 114, 136. Ballangh. 44.

Arnfinn. 28, 103.

Arnheim.

5.

Arnkell. 2S, 103.

Arnmodling, family. 30. Arnor Jarlaskald. 30. Arnulf of Bavaria and Carinthia.

Alstenius, see also Hastein.

Artois. 127.

Baltic.

10,

143

Bamborough.

f.,

Basing. 83.

Bavaria. 123.

Asbjorn, son of Ulv. 152.

Bayeux,

Asbjorn Skerjablese. Ascloa (.^sselt). 119

Beauvais. 113.

Amund, King.

Asgeir

Amund

Tree-foot. 32.

Andalusia. 135

f,

138.

{.see

Ashdown.

145.

Bath. 142. 147.

48.

Amboise. 16. Amiens. 86, 113, 116, 121. 84.

f.

Balzo. 130.

Bangor. 49.

123.

Arran. 31

1

jarla). 50.

Autbert. 107.

f.

Algeciras. 136.

116.

23,

Aumundernes (Ogmundar-

Arnulf of Flanders. 129.

137.

Aud

Auisl. 33, 53, 60, 62, 99. 101.

134.

Alcuin.

Atle of Gaular. 116.

31, 54, 66.

113, 117. 123

Archlow. 51 Ardu. 71. Are Frode. 2i,

9,

107.

Tire. 58.

Alban, Albdan, see Halvdan

103.

Aud. 138. 5, 9,

16, IS, 102,

ft,

Airthir. 51.

f,

98,

98,

Attigny. 109.

Ara

1

95,

142.

Agricola. 46.

Aith Cliath (Dublin). 50. 69.

66,

139.

ff.,

Asulv Krakabein. Athmhaoil. 44.

f.

Anjou. 114 f. Anscarius (Anskar). Antrim. 49, 60. Antwerp. 108. Apuole. 10.

127,

Asturia. 134

34. ff.,

123.

Oscher). 110. 83.

Assundon. 148.

113,

130

f.

Bedford. 85. 88. 92. Beja. 136.

Beortwulf of Mercia. Beothricof Wessex. 1,

81. 14, 80-

General Index

156

9

c

Chester. 37, 38, 58, 66, 85,

Beowulf. 2. Bergen, Norway. 56.

Cadix. 135.

Bergtorskval. 30.

Caen. 128.

Chester-le-Street. 99.

Bern

Caesar. 47.

Chippenham.

85.

Caithness. 27, 29, iZ, 100.

Chochilaicus.

2.

Callaghan of Cashel. 70.

Ciannachta. 52, 59. Cinead mac Conaing of Cian-

(Bjorn). 5.

Bernicia. 11, 32, 82, 93, 95, 103.

9Sff.,

Bessin. 127

Camargue. 113, 136. Cambridge. 84, 88, 93.

f.

Biolan. 125.

Birka.

5.

Cambridgeshire. 91.

56.

9,

Cantabrian Sea. 26. Canterbury. 81 f, 101, 140,

Birsa. 30.

Biscay,

Bay

137.

of.

Cape

135.

5, 81,

Bjorn, son of the Ketil Flat-

Bjorn Buna. 31. Bjorn Ironside, son of Regner (Ragnar).

113,

116.

Blakk, son of Gudrod Ivnrsson. 71. Blois.

Clear. 49.

Boleslav the Brave.

H3.

Cnut, son of Svein Estrids-

Carloman. 117, 121

136.

Colchester. 92 69.

f,

Ceasterford. 103.

Boyne. 49,78.

Cele Dubhaill. 66.

Bregia. 66, 70.

Cenfuat (Confey). 68. Cennedigh of I.eix. 59.

120.

58

f.

Champagne. Charlemagne

Broder. 76

Charles, prince of Aquitaine.

son

100 ff. Sigurd the

71,

of

Great).

1.

SO, 105

ff.,

3.

(Charles

4

12,

f,

14,

the IS,

109, 119, 121.

110.

Charles the Bald. 62, 110

ff,,

Charles the Fat of Swabia.

Bruvik. 56.

120, 122.

Burhred. 82, 84.

Bunnratty (Tradry). 74. Burgundy. 102, 115, 122

Charles the Simple. 102, 124, ff.,

126

131

f.,

Bute. 32.

Cheain Fearta Brennain.

51.

Byzantium. 137.

Cheshire. 69, 90.

126

f.

Bard. 63

f, 95, 100.

124,126.

f.

108,

114,

119,

Conde. 121. Confey. 67, 98. Coneal of Leinster. 59. Congalach. 71 f. Connact. 51. Connaught. 46, 64, 77.

Connemara.

49.

Constantine III of Scotland. a, 71, 93, 98, 100 ff. of Lewis. 37.

Corbridge. 99.

Cork. 49, 60, 67 Cormacan. 70 f.

f.,

75.

Cornwall. 76, 80 1, S5, 105.

f.

Chartres.

5,

Conaing, son of Donncuang.

Conura

134.

117,

Stout. 30.

Cologne.

ran. 49, 75.

Ceolwulf. 84.

Bruse,

96,

77.

Brian Borumbha (Boru) of Munster. 38, 72, 74 ff. Brihtnoth of Essex. 144. Brissarthe. 115 f.

Brunanburh.

ff.

Conchobar, son of Olav Cua-

Brese. 66.

f.

Fork-

Svein

121.

Bourges. 115.

29,

of

Coblence. Ill, 119, 121.

116.

Cearbhall of Ossory. 32, 52,

23,

son

beard. 16, 79, 148 103.

Bouin. IS. Boulogne. 123.

Bremen.

Cnut,

Cnut of Northumbria.

Murchad. 66 54,

60.

f.,

son. 152.

f.

Carlow. 64. Carlus, son of Olav the White.

Cearbhall of Lcinster son of

Bornholm. 143.

f.

Carlingford Lough. 72.

Catillus.

Borgarsyssel. 43.

Clondalkin. 59.

77

Cashel. 49, 64, 70, 74.

135.

f.,

nachta. 52. Climashogue. 69. Clonard. 47.

Clyde. 32

C£\talonia.

Bonn. 119. Bordeaux. 113

142, 151.

Carlingford. 50, 52.

62.

113.

ff.,

Clontarf. 16, 19, 30, 34, 75,

Capet. 132. Carinthia. 123.

nev. 116.

92, 96

f.,

Clonmacnois. 49, 51, 73. Clonmore. 49.

147.

144,

Bihtric. 149.

Bjorn.

88

113,

126,

Cotentin. 129, 132.

Courland. 10.

139.

Cromarty. 29. Crowland. 82 f.

General Index Cumberland.

32, 60, 63, 65,

Dufnall of Strathclyde. 142.

157

Edward the

89 f., 102 f., 142. Cutheard. 98 f.

Dugald. 44.

Alfred. 91

Dugall, .son of Olav. 77.

128.

Cynvvit. 95.

Dachonna.

101,

Duisburg. 120.

Edward, son of Edgar.

142.

Dumbarton.

Eggehart. 108. Egill Skallagrimsson. 19, 100 f.

33, 60.

Dun-Amblaeibh. Dunblane. 98. Dungad. 29.

37.

Dacia. 125. Dalriada. 32

Danelaw.

f.

85, 90, 92, 94, 103,

140, 143, 145

ff.

Danevirke. 107. Dee. 49, 90, 142. Delgany. 78. Derby. 39, 85, 88. Derry. 52. Derwent. 32.

Eadmund.

Eamont.

71

140,

ff..

88

Emma,

14,

9,

108,

119.

of

Mercia.

15.

65,

79

101 f„

f.,

117

95

49 ff.,

15, ff.,

27,

54

ff.,

30

62

ff., ff.,

103, 124, 126.

Dublinshire. 54.

120,

Erlend. 103. Esbrid, son of Edred. 99.

ff.

Essex. 89,91 We.s.sex. 80, 82.

ff.,

144

Ethandun.

14S,

85.

Ethiopia. 139. ff.,

149.

Exeter. 84. Eystein. 27. 32, 54.

80.

F

102.

Ironside. 83, 148

f.

Faroes.

16,

Edred. 99.

Fenechlais.

89,

Edward

Ferrol. 139.

the Confessor, son

^Ethelred.

19,

29, 40. 47.

Feidhlimidh. 49.

29.

149, 151.

f.,

151.

43,

of

f.,

Eric, Earl. 148.

Eyvind Eastman.

Edmund.

37

2S,

124.

Erin. 26. f.,

151.

Edna.

f.,

Eric of Northumbria. 149.

151.

Edgar. 38, 99, 140

75.

130.

128,

Edith, daughter of Godwin.

Edmund

32.

Eric Blood-axe.

Down.

Dubgall. 95.

145.

Eowils. 97. Eric.

Francia.

Edlandunc.

f.,

Eohric. 91.

102

f.,

Downpatrick. 49. Drogheda. 59, 62. Druian, son of Dugakl. 44.

106

queen, of Normandy.

Eoganan.

98.

Edgall. 49.

49.

17,

5,

147, 151.

82.

f,

ff.,

Ebo. 107 ff. Ecgberth of Echu. 37.

2,

Ely. 83, 144.

Douglas. 41.

45,

126.

Eltan. 99.

122, 123, 129

Dorset. 84. 91.

Dublin.

Eindride, son of Gudvir. 150.

Ella of Northumbria. 82.

100.

East-Anglia.

East

Dubhcothtaigh.

the

Stout. 30.

of Bernicia.

142, 148

mouth). 80.

114,

Einar,

Elbe.

Eadred. 102 f. Eadrik Streona 148 f. Eadwig. 103.

82

49.

Donemouth (Monkwear-

112,

Skalaglam. 125. son of Sigurd

Eiiifir

Eadburge. 1. Eadgar. 103 f. Eadgiva. 102.

Donchad, son of Niall Glundubh. 64, 69 ff., 75.

f.,

146.

Einar, see Turf-Einar.

K

Eadred

Dorestad. 4

Eilif.

Eirik (Heric). 124,

Devonshire. 81. 95, 145. Dingwall. 29. Dive. 131. Domhuall at Dunnottar. 33. Donald, King. 103.

77.

Eigg. 8.

Gudrod

son Dungal, of Haraldsson. 38. Dunkeld. 33, 67. Dunnottar. 33. Dunseverick. 60.

Elagh. 70.

Devon. 142. Devonport. 69, 98.

Donnan. 8. Donncuang.

Eider. 112.

142.

Deventer. 120.

8,

59.

Dunstan of Canterbun,-.

Desies. 70.

Donegal.

96

ff.,

Dumfries. 90.

D

son of

Elder, ff.,

126,

147,

67.

Fiac, son of Thorlciv. 44. Fiesole. 136.

General Index

158

Gudrod

Fife. 30.

Gerloc. 129.

Findian. 47.

Germany.

Finland. 10, 56.

Gibraltar. 136.

Finmark. 16. Finn Arneson.

Gille,

Five 92

88

15,

101

99,

97,

f., f.,

Flanders.

18

14,

108, '114

82,

76,

f.,

117

f.,

f.,

121,

of

Gille

Gudrod Sigtryggsson

75.

38

Glennelly. 58.

Gluniaran (Jernkne). 64. Gluniaran, son of Olav Gudrodsson. 73 ff. Gluntrada, .son of Gluniaran.

66.

Danish King.

Godfred, 17,

64,

Frey. 45.

118

ff.,

128, 130.

80

114,117

f.,

128,

ff.,

105

90,

ff.,

130,144.

Frode. 50.

Fulham.

12,

106 1, 109

14,

64,

f.,

Godhfraidh Konung. 54. Godwin, earl. 151. Gold-Harald. 131. Gonflath, daughter of Muir-

Gongu-Rolv. 125 1, 128, 132. Gonsalo Sanchez. 139.

daughter 75 1

Galling. 58.

Gorm

Galicia. 139.

of

2.

the Old.

Gunhild, sister of king Svein. 146.

30.

91 fl,

128, 149.

Gutorm. 34. Gutorm, son

of Maelbrigda.

27.

H Hafrsfjord. 22

65.

15,

103.

Gunlaug Ormstunge. Guthmund. 143. Guthrum. 84 fl, 88,

Marchhad. 94,

101.

Galloway. 36, 60, 90.

Guelderland.

Gotaland. 144.

Gormlaith. 69. Gormlath (Gormflath),

Gaddgedlar. 58. Gaditanian Straits. 26.

Man.

Gudred, brother of Gorm of East Anglia. 65. Gudrod, father of Olav the White. 60. Gudvir. 150.

Gunhild, queen.

cheartach. 73.

118.

of

ff.

Gulathinglag. 43.

64.

Frankfort. 113, 120.

57,

38,

113, 142.

Flann Conang. 59. Flann Sinna. 64.

Frisia. 2, 4ff., 10, 13ff., 17f,

Halvdan

of

.son

Gudrod, son of Harald.

f.

(Gluniaran).

Fortrenn. 33.

Ha-

of

Hvitbein. 54.

Glunhadna, son of Jernkne

Fontenay. 110. Formentera. 136.

f.,

rald Fairhair. 27.

Gudrod,

34.

123 ff., 129 ff., 144. Flannagan. 66.

Flose. 30.

Man. 34

of

Gudrod Ljome, son

34.

Giraldus Cambrensis. 50.

Glenmama.

68,

39, 43.

Glen Faba. 42.

f.

Northumbria.

Gudrod Crovan

son

Adomnan.

of

95.

30.

34.

Adomnan.

Gisla. 120

128, 148, 151.

Fjordane. 56

Earl.

Gillebrigde,

32.

Boroughs. ff.,

Gille

30.

Firth of Forth.

15,

1,

Hagrold. 130 Haklang. 61.

ff.,

61.

f.

Gall-tir (Gaultier). 68.

Gotland. 10, 43, 45, 90, 143.

Halgrim. 101.

Gardarike. 143.

Gower.

Hallad, son of Ragnvald of

Garonne. 105. Ill, 134 f. Gaul. 2, 11, 46 1, 105, 113.

Greenland. 13, 19. Gregory of Tours.

Gaular. 116.

Gaut. 44.

Grim. 34. Grimsboer. 152.

Gauzlin. 122.

Grjotgard, son

Geirmunn Heljarskinn.

32.

Gen61 Fiachach. 58. Gerd. 45.

Gerhard

Provence.

136.

Gerlaug, daughter of Dungad. 29.

More. 27. Hallstein,

2.

of

Thorolf

Hals. 120. of

Gudvir

Grobin. 10. Groningen. 3. Guadalquivir. 136. Gudrod. 98. Gudrod of Dublin.

99 1, 102.

son

Mostraskjegg. 116.

?

150.

Geira. 143.

of

89.

Halvdan

Halegg,

son

of

Harald Fairhair. 24, 27 f. Halvdan Hvitbein of the Uplands. 54. Halvdan, son of Gudrod. 7 Halvdan of Northumbria, son of Ragnar Lodbrok. ).

69

ff.,

63,

65,

83 1, 88, 95, 97.

General Index Halvdan, lord of Walcheren. 5,

Hamburg.

5,

f.,

Harald Fai.hair. 15 f., 22 ff., 31,50,54,61,94, 101, 125. Harald Greycloak. 131. Harald Hardrade. 28, 39, Harald, brother of Cnut. 148. Harald Harefoot, son of

Cnut. 149, 151. Harald, son of Godwin. 151. Harald of Limerick, son of Siggtrygg. 73.

son

Harald,

of

Siggtrygg

Gale. 99.

Harald, son of Svein Estrids-

Harald of Denmark. 107

ff.,

131.

Harald of Man. 75, 142. Hardanger. 6, 42. Hardecnut, son of Cnut. 95, 151.

65, 96, 114

ff.,

123, 135

f.,

143, 149.

Hauksfljot. 152.

Hebrides.

29

7

f.,

15,

21

ff.,

34 ff., 41, 45, 54 60, 70, 75 f., 88, 100, 116 125 f., 128, 143. ff.,

Hedeby.

5,

f.. f.

lona. 13, 30, 74, 78.

Ipswich. 144.

Hordaland.

Irish Sea. 13, 36

17, 32, 116, 138.

Horik, King of Denmark. IS, ff.,

Hovda. 32. Howel from Wales. Howlh. 49, 66.

Hugh Hugh

Lorraine, II.

120

son

of

f.

Helge Ottarsson. 125. Helge the Thin (Magre). 54, 66.

Helgeland. 57.

Heming Halvdanson. Hemming. 146.

5,

108.

Hengistdun (Hingston Down). 80. Henry of East Francia. 120

Ivitza.

136.

J

124.

Jacob from Wales. 142.

Hvvittingaham. 95. Hygelac. 2. Ha?rcSaland. 1 f., 14, 80. Hafoeta (Halvdan). 27.

Jahja-ibn al Haquam Ghazal). 137 f.

Hakon (Agond). 52. Hakon Hakonsson. 39.

Jomsborg. 143, 149.

H4kon. 27

J uchil of

Jemkne

Jordanes.

152.

of York, son of Eric

66.

f.,

3.

Westmoreland. 142

Jumifeges. 111.

Jura. 32.

the Good. 15, 102. Hirek, son of Eric Blood-

Justin. 143.

Axe. 103. Hirek, son of Bard. 100.

Jutland.

Justinianus. 2,

3.

100

5,

f.,

ff

Herbert of Vermandois. 129.

13,

K 19.

23

f.,

31

ff.,

40, 42, 47, 62.

77

f.,

116,

Imhar. 53.

112.

Jaeren. 45.

HSstein. 116.

Iceland.

(al

(Jargna,

Gluniaran). 52

Kadlin, daughter of

4th. 39.

37, 53,

60,

Hungary'. 149.

Hakon

32,

f.,

62 ff., 66 ff., 71, 73, 78, 96 ff., 102, 124. Ivar of Limerick. 38, 75. 5"? f.,

Humber. 99 f., 145, 147. Huncdeus (Hunedeus, Hun-

f.,

of

More. 24. Ivar of Dublin. 33

132.

ff.,

son

Boneless,

Ragnar Lodbrok. 62, 81. Ivar, Son of Ragnvald of

Burgundy. 102.

of

42, 142.

f.

39.

Italy. 12, 14, 114, 117, 120,

Ivar the

the Great of France.

Lothar

f.,

Ivar. 83.

142.

Capet. 132.

of

31

Itzehoe. 107.

Hroald. 127.

Hugh Hugh

Islay.

122, 134, 136.

112.

of Northumbria. 150.

Helge. 73.

Henry 'he

Inver Dea (Archlow). 51. 34.

Island. 48.

HSkon

143.

Inniscathaig. 3S.

12.

5,

2,

Murray (Innishmurray).

13, 49.

Holme. 91, 96. Holmfast Vetormson.

pjofr).

Hasting, see also Hallstein.

Inis

106.

Hollenstedt. 107.

107

f.,

97.

4,

Holstein.

of

Dublin. 37, 58, 66, 89

Ingjald, son of Gudrod, 54.

17.

Hjorleiv. 66.

127, 129

son. 152.

149,

dun). SO.

Holy

152.

(Hengist-

Hiruath (Hirota). Holland.

145.

Ingemund (Hingamund)

2.

Down

Hingston

lOS, 112.

Hampshire. 83, 91, 145. Harald the Black. 39. Harald Bluetooth. 15, 103. 130

Ingelheim. 110.

Hild. 125.

Himmerland.

108.

159

125, 127.

f.

28,

66,

Rolv. 125

f.

Kalf Arneson. 30.

Kalv Skurva, Kells. 78.

27.

Gongu

General Index

160

Kenneth

of Scotland. 142.

Kenneth. 49.

Limerick. 37

Kenneth Mac Alpin.

33.

Kent. 15, 79 it., 86, 97, 123, 144 f., 151. Kerry. 59. Ketil, son of Brese. 66. Ketil Flatnev. 31 f,,37, 54,

73

ff.,

49,

f.,

60,

67,

100, 139.

Lincoln. 85, 88 Lindisfarne.

Luigni. 58. 13,

1 f.,

IS, 80,

95, 99.

89

Lindsey.

Ketil Guva. 66. Ketil

Raum.

Ketil

Trym.

Ketil

the

145,

f.,

148,

34. (Caitill-

Lissabon. 134

Kildare. 49, 52, 64, 66, 68.

Loch Foyle.

Kilkenny. 68.

Lochlann. 17, 26, 52 f., 59 f. Lodve, son of Tnrf-Einar. 29.

Liverpool. 90.

Kinsale. 31.

Kintyre. 13, 32, 36.

Lofoten. 57.

Kirk Michael. 44.

Loire.

13

59.

123

Kjotve. 61

IS

16,

f.,

f.,

126

Lombardy.

Knut. 5. Kobbo. IS.

London.

f.,

57,

134, 137.

ff.,

Ill, 118,

ff..

Londonderry. 49,

38.

59.

Lotharll. 120. Lothar. 80, 108

111.

f.

Rochelle. 18, 105.

Lea. 85

11. f.

Leicester. 85, 88, 92

f.,

102.

Leigh ton. 92. ff.,

74

ff.

Leix. 59, 68.

Lek.

4.

Le Mans.

115.

Leofred. 97. Leofric. 151.

Lewis. Hebrides. 31, 37. Lifege.

119.

Liffey. 50, 72.

Eren.

44.

Maelfinna, son of Flannagan. 66. ff.

Maelsechlainn of Tara. 51

ff,

ff.

Maeretun (Marton).

S3.

Maghnus, see also Maccus.

38.

Magnus Olavsson Barefoot.

72.

Neagh. 50 Owel. 51. Ree. 73. Ribh. 51.

f.,

70

24, 28

(L. Owel).

f.,

34 1, 39.

Magnus Olavsson the Good. 23,

151.

Magnus Olavsson. Mahoun. 74 f.

Swilly. 70.

Uair

Mael Brigde.

Maestricht. 119.

ff.

51.

Louis. 117, 131.

Leinster. 39, 46, 49, 52, 59. 66, 68

Lough Lough Lough Lough Lough Lough Lough

Olav

of

Cuaran. 37, 103. Maelbrigda. 27.

Maeltuile. 52.

f.

Lothra. 51.

49.

142.

Maccus Olavson, son

73

Lorraine. 118, 120

Lavaux.

3.

58 f. Maelsechlainn II of Meath.

ff.

Lorcan. 52.

La

Champagne.

Maelmorda. 74

120.

81, 84

145, 147

Kolbein. 74.

Lambey.

of

34, 38, 75,

105, 108, lll,113f.,115ff.

Kjarvall, see Cearbhall.

Lamlash. 48. Lancashire. 89 Laon. 130.

136.

f.,

(abbot). 136.

Macbeth. 29. Maccus. 38. Maccus Haraldsson of Man.

139.

f.,

Liudger. 106.

Lambert.

Lupus Lupus

Lyon. 123.

Finn) 58. Kiaran. 51.

Kare Salmundsson.

Luna. 114

Linn-Duachail. 50. Linn Roio. 50. Lismore. 64, 68.

34.

White

Louis of Aquitaine. 102. Louth. 49 f., 52, 64. Louwers. 3.

Lugo. 139.

93.

f.,

Lincolnshire. 80.

151.

116.

58,

Limburg. 119.

Louis III. 116 f. Louis III of East Francia. 117, 118, 120.

39.

Maine. 127 ff. Mainz. 107, 110, 119 f. Majorca. 136. Malcolm, King in Scotland. 29 f.

Louis IV, d'Outremer. 102, 129 f. Louis the German. 108, 110, 112 f, 117. Louis the Pious. 14, IS, 105.

Malcolm

109 f. Louis the Stammerer. 117,

66, 75 ff., 81, S8 Manchester. 93.

of Cumberland. 142. Maldon. 93, 144. Malmesbury. 101.

Man. 30

13, f.,

34

15, ff.,

IS 49,

f.,

54 f.,

21 f.,

f.,

61,

142

f.

General Index Marchhad.

Margad

75.

Waterford, son of Ragnvald. 78. of

Nominoe of NorSmanna NorSweg.

Brittany. 111.

Matodar

Mauritania. 26.

NorSman. 149. Normanby. 89.

Mayo.

Normancross. 89.

Meath. 46, 49 ff., 70 f., Mecheln. 119. Medeshamstede. 83.

Megh

73, 77.

1241,

100 f,

147,

89.

Channel). 60.

Morcar of Northumbria. 148.

Nottingham. 82, 85, Noyon. 113, 116. Nud. 138.

Morocco. 114, 135

Nymwegen. 108

135

f.

f.

f.,

88, 92ff.

mouth). 80. Muircheartach of Elagh, son of Niall. 34, 70 f., 73. Mull. 34.

Munster. 38, 46, 58

f.,

66,

ff.

Murchadh, son

of Brian. 66,

47, 54 f., 57 ff., 65 f. Olav, son of Ivar. 64, 66. Olav Ljotulvson. 44.

Olav the Scurfy (CeanncaiOlav, king in Sweden. 148, 150.

Olav Tryggvason.

16, 19, 28,

143 ff., 147, 150. Olchober. 52. Ordoiia

Orkneys 112.

I.

135.

2,

6

ff.,

15, 19, 21

ff.

43, 60, 77, 100, 103, 117,

Orleans. 115.

O

Orm

(Horm). 52 ff., 120. Oscher (Asgeir). 110, 113.

Oakley. 81. Odin. 28, 99. Odo of Canterbury. 101.

Odo Odo Odo

Osfrid. 101. Osketil. 84.

of Chartres. 132.

Oslo fjord.

of Paris. 122

OssorJ^ 32, 52, 54, 58

of

West

f.

Francia.

116,

Offa.

1,

12,

le

Daniae dux). Nantes. 19, 57, 111, 127

Narrow Water.

f.

50.

5.

Giselle.

Neustria. 115. 127.

Oistin, see Eystein

NiiU, son of Aedh. 51, 58. Ni411 Glundubh. 68 ff.

Nimes. 113. Noirmoutier. 18

113

Oxford. 147, 149.

t.

and Thor-

stein.

125.

f.,

105, 111.

— viking-Antiquities.

68,

Olav. 69, 74

f.,

77,

143.

Olav (Amblaeibh). 53 f. Olav Ball. 99. Olav Cuaran, son of Siggtrygg Gale. 34, 71 102 f.

ff.,

99

f.,

124,

Otto of East Francia. 102, 129 ff. Ouse. 85. Overhalla. 55.

nes). 90.

Navarra. 137. Nidaros. 36.

f.,

70, 76.

127.

Oise. 121, 124.

Nidbiorg, daughter of Biolan

111.

Ottar. 16, 19, 64, 97

Danois (Olger

Ogmundarnes (Aumunder-

17, 136.

57,

Otta (Ottkatla). 51.

79.

Offaley. 75.

Ogier

2,

Ostergotland. 45.

124.

77.

Murray. 27, 33. More. 126.

11.

Olav the White of Dublin, son of Gudrod. 31 ff., 37,

125, 142, 150.

Monkwearmouth (Done-

Nakur.

73,

ff.

Orkesta. 150.

Moselle. 118.

68, 71, 73

Ivarsf.,

rech). 73.

land). 1. 15, 32 f., 60, 63, 65 ff., 70 ff., 79 f., 82 ff., 88 f., 91 ff., 143, 145 ff., 151 f.

Micislaw. 143. I.

19

Northumbria (Northumber-

f.

Mersey. 90. Metz. 119, 122. Meuse. 2, 119. Minorca. 136.

Mohamed

1

139,

ff.,

Northampton. 92 f., 102. North Channel (St. Patrich's f.,

Gudrod

son of Dublin. 70

149, 151.

Melhus. 55. Melun. 115. Mercia. 12, 79ff.,88ff.,97

f,

16, 19, 24, 28, 30, 78.

Olav, son of

15, 77, 115,

127

Norman ton.

Ita. 51.

102, 148

Normandy.

132, 139

Olav Haraldsson, the Saint.

16.

Nord-Trondelag. 55.

49.

Olav Haraldsson. 146, 151.

land. 16.

Marseilles. 115. of Ulster. 53.

161

f.,

Paderborn. 112. Pallig.

146.

Palnatoki. 143.

Pampelona. 137. Papey. 48.

General Index

162 Paris. 18,64, 82, 112

122

ff.,

118,

Ragnvald 27

f.

M0re.

of

24

f.,

Rorik of

Frisia. 81, 112,

Roscommon.

125.

30,

f.,

Ragnvald

119

Ross. 27.

Peel. 36, 40.

of York. 68, 93. Rainald de Herbauge. 111. Ramiro I. 134 f.

Pembroke. 89. Pentland Firth. 150. P^pin d'H^ristal. 4.

Ramiro III. 139. Ramsay. 39. Raoul d'lvry. 133.

Ruadhri. 71. Rudolf of Burgundy. 127.

Perth. 33, 35, 67.

Rathlin. 49.

Russin. 37.

Raudfell. 66.

Riistringen. 107

Parret. 85.

Paulus Diaconus. 106.

Pictavia. 33.

Pippin of Aquitaine. 110 f., 113.

108,

115.

Pontoise. 122.

Popa. 128. Provence. 123, 136. Prudentius of Troyes. 109. Priim. 121.

Pytheas.

2.

Quentovic.

81,

111.

R Rafarta. 32.

Raghnall of Orkney. 117.

and

Raghnall, see Ragnald

Ragnar. 95. Ragnar, see also Regner. 63, 81

f.

95,

116.

Ragnar Lodbrok. 82,

65,

95,

103,

33,

62

f.,

Ragnhild, daughter of Eric Blood-Axe. 28, 103. Ragnhild. 35. Ragnvald. 26, 34, 68 ff., 78,

98

f.

25

the

ff.

Russia. 10, 143. 110.

f.,

31.

Strong.

R6. 18, 105. Reading. 83.

Saemund Frode.

Rechru. 2, 13. Regino. 121. Regner, see also Ragnar. 18, 112 f. Reims. 107 f., 131. Rennes. 128. Repton. 84. Rhine. 2 ff., 9, 17, 106, 110, 114, 118 ff., 127. Rhineland. 106. Rhone. 113 f., 136. Richard I of Normandy. 124, 130 ff., 139. Richard II of Normandy. 124, 132 1, 147.

Saintes. 135.

Ricsig. 82.

Senlac. 79.

22,

f.

Ragnvald, son of Bruse. 30. Ragnvald, son of Gudrod. 102.

Ragnvald, son of Harald Fairhair. 103.

Ragnvald, son of Ivar. 124. Ragnvald, son of Olav. 74.

Saham.

Rimbert of Bremen. Rinar hill. 27.

5,

120.

23.

83.

Sandwich.

146

144,

81,

Saucourt. 118. Savo}'. 117.

Saxony. 106, 112, 121. Saxulv (Saxolb). 50. Scania. 143.

Scanza. 125. Scheldt. 108, 118, 121.

Schleswig.

5.

Sciath Necktan. 52.

13

Seine.

110

81,

ff.,

114

ff.,

123 1, 1261, 132. Severn. 145. 135. 137,

139.

f.

Sherborne. 101. f.

Shetland. 6

ff..

Sictric (Sigtrygg). 69.

Rochester. 81.

Sidona. 135, 137.

Roderick the Great of Wales.

Sidroc. 82

42, 47.

f.

Sigeric of Canterbury.

54, 95.

32, 56

f.,

126.

f.,

Sigfred, King. 118,120

Sigfred,

Rollaug, 27. Rollo. 119

144.

Sigfred, earl. 65, 68, 86, 96.

Rodulf. 119.

124

ff.,

143.

Sigfred,

Danish King. son

of

ff.,

142.

5,

106.

Sigtrygg

Gale. 99. 101.

Rolv. 27. 30, 78, 84, 108, 115,

117, 136.

Romney

29 1,

21 fl,

Robert of France. 127. Robert of Rouen. 132.

Rome.

108,

86,

117, 121 1,

f.,

Shannon. 38, 52, 73 fl Sheppey. 80 f., 148.

Robert. 43, 130. Robert of Anjou. 114

Rogaland.

f.

Sa6ne. 118.

Sevilla.

Ristimaki. 56.

Rithulv. 129

152.

Ragnaill, 54.

Ragnvald

113, 115, 122,

f.,

126, 129

Raumsdoelafylki. 31.

Pisa. 114, 136. PItres.

Raumsdal.

Rouen. 110

f.

49.

Marsh. 80.

Sigfred

of

Ivar. 63

Dublin,

son

of

f.

Sigfred of Northumbria. 148.

General Index Sigtrygg. 53, 62, 73, 97, 113.

St.

Sigtrygg Gale. 69

St.

ff.,

98

93,

Sigtrygg the Rich. 70

ff.

St.

f.

Gemers. 113. Germain. IS. Martin, monastery.

163 Tettenhall. 97.

Thames.

80

83

f.,

Sigtrygg of the Silken Beard of Dubhn, son of Olav

St. Molaise. 48.

Thanet.

St. Patrick.

Cuaran. 30, 34, 38, 64, 67 f., 74 ff. Sigtrygg, son of Ivar. 33,

St. Patrick's island. 13

Th(5rouanne. 113, 118. Thetford. S3.

13, 47, 52.

St.

Philibert. 105.

St.

Senan. 38.

St. Vandrille.

63, 69.

113.

Ill,

Staffordshire. 97.

Sigurd, Earl, 24, 27.

Stamford. 85, 88, 92

Sigurd the Stout of Orkney, son of Lodve. 28 ff., 33 f.,

Stamford Bridge. Stamnes. 55 f.

Sigurd Fafnisbane. 45, 82.

Stanmoor.

Sinzig. 121.

Stein (Zain). 52

Sitrec.

38,

.

151.

39,

152.

Skule. 99.

Skurfa. 97.

103.

f.

Strangford Lough. 63, 95. Strathclyde. 11, 32 f., 60, 65,

Thingwall. 90.

Thorbjorn Homklove. 16. Thord Gunnarsson. 104. Thord at Hovda. 32. Thore of More. 27 f. Thore Treefoot. 27. Thorfred. 88, 93, 100. Thorir, son of Helge (Tomrair Elgi's son). 73.

Thorkel the

Sleswick. 106.

Suffolk. 144.

Thorleiv. 44.

Sliesthorp. 106.

Sulcoit. 74.

Thormod

Sligo. 49.

Sulend Sea. 22.

Sumarhde

Snaefell. 36.

Snaim Aignech.

the

Surrey. 81. 83.

Sussex. 145, 151.

Sognefjord. 55.

Thule.

Soissons. 127, 131.

Sutherland. 29, 32. Svein Estridsson. 23, 152.

Solway. 60. Somerset. 96. 142. Somme. 114, 116 f., 121.

Svein Forkbeard. 16, 78 132, 145 ff., 150. Svein, son of Cnut. 149.

Timolin. 64.

Southampton

80,

142, 145,

148.

Spain. 12, 15, 19, 26, 114 132, 134

St. St.

126.

Thorstein the Red. (Oistin) 27,

31, 33,

Tighemach. f.,

54, 62.

2.

52.

Tingualla. 41. Tingvoll. 43.

Tipperary. 74. Tir-da-glas. 51.

Svold. 150.

Tjodolv of Hvin.

Swabia. 120.

Tomhrair (Thorer). 50, 52. Tomrar. 37. Torbjom Homklove. 24,

of the Hebrides. 32.

Sodermanland. 150.

Karins. 56.

16.

61.

Columba. 2, 13, Columban. 19.

Tore Haklang. 61.

30.

Torer. 59.

Tamworth. 102. Tampworth. 98.

St. St.

Denis. Ill

Tempsford. 92.

St.

116.

Sverre, King. 29.

Comhgall. 49. Cuthbert. 2, 95, 99. Dacona. 13.

St.

of

Svein, son of Godwin. 151.

Sajmund

ff.

St. Clair-sur-Epte S.

f.,

son

Thorolv. 100.

Sodor. 40.

130.

Old,

Thorolv Mostraskjegg.

13.

Sogn. 31.

123,

ff.

Brese. 66.

of Argyll. 34.

Sunderland.

53.

146

Tall.

Thorketil. 88, 92, 94.

125.

f.

f.,

Thor. 51, 99. Thoralv. 70.

81, 93, 95, 98 ff., 142. Stratheme. 33, 67. Strong Lough. 72. SuSrey (Hebrides). 22, 30,

Skellig Michael. 49. Skiringsal. 57.

142.

f.,

Thimten. 118. Thinghow. 90.

f.

Steinulv the Short. 32.

130.

Sivard of Northumbria Skaga-fjord. 32.

Skye. 30

28,

SI

139.

Stanley, Sir John. 39.

142.

f.,

36.

15,

Theudebert. 2 f. Thibaut of Chartres. 131

Siguin of Bordeaux. 135.

38, 77

123,

ff.,

144, 148.

5.

f.,

115.

Tara. 11,46, 59, 71 f„ 74,76.

Torfinn Hausakljuv. son of Turf-Einar. 29. Torfinn of Orkney, son of

Sigurd the Stout. 29

f.,

34.

General Index

164

Willibert of Cologne. 121.

Torgeir Avradskoll. 23.

Vecht.

Torgisl, see also Turgeis. 46.

Venantius Fortunatus. Vendland. 143, 149. Vermandois. 129.

Tory

Island.

8.

Toste. 150.

Toulouse. Ill Tours.

f.,

Vestfold. 16, 19, 57.

124.

Viken. 125, 138. VinheiSr (Winaheath) Vinland. 13.

Tradry (Bunnratty). Trajectum vetus. 4.

74.

32.

f.,

30

f.,

125.

f.

Turgeis (Thorgisl). 50ff.,54f. Turgesius. 50. Turid, daughter of

Eastman.

Eyvind

54.

Turlough, son of Naurchad.

Wareham.

Tynemoor. 98. Tynwald Hill. 40

Wirral. 37, 66, 891, 97.

Street. 85,

15,

26,

116

121

Westmoreland.

Ulidia. 64. f.,

58, 60, 62, 64, 70.

Ulv. 69, 150 ff. Ulv, son of Olav Ljotulvson. 44.

Ulv Skjalge. 32. Ulvketil of East Anglia. 148. Uplands. Norway. 54. Uppland. Sweden. 5, 150.

f.,

152.

Yorkshire. 89

f.

60,

M ^Ifheah

Winchester

of

Archbishop. 145, 147. ^Elfgifu. 149, 151.

^Ifric. 145. ff.

63,

89,

76.

daughter of

.lElfwine,

^Ivin. 101. ^thelbald. 79, 82. ^thelbert. 82. iEthelfled. 89, 92 f., 97 ^thelney. 85. iEthelred.

15,

132, 142, 145

iEthelstan.

126.

Longsword.

f.

iEthelnoth. 96.

Wijk. 5. William the Conqueror. 39,

127

148, 150,

^thelfled. 93.

Wexford. 49, 64, 72, Wicklow. 37, 49. Widukind. 5, 106. Wight. 145 ff.

79,

ff.,

Z

103, 142.

William

84

82,

Zealand. 138.

143.

ff.

43,

37,

72,

98

f.,

13.

Francia. 14, 106, 112 f.,

29,

68,

65,

f.

123, 142, 145, 151.

Ulfstein. 19.

ff.

92,

89,

Werstan. 101. Weser. 107. 110, 145. Wessex. 1, 15, 65, 79 ff., 82 ff., 91, 93, 95 ff., 101

West

Ulfketil. 83.

125,

98

ff.,

102

15, f.,

82

ff.,

ff.,

91

f.,

151.

19,

129

69,

71,

f.

yEthelvin. 101.

ff.

William the Bastard of Nor-

V

63,

Weland. 114.

Uhtred. 148.

108.

York.

93, 95

Wednesfield. 97. f.

Ulster. 13, 34, 46, 49, 52

120.

Wiirzburg. 120.

f.

84.

Wearmouth.

of Ragnai. 81, 95.

4,

Windsor. 83.

Wulfhard. 111. Wulfstan of York. 101

Waterford. 49, 59 f., 64, 67 I., 72 f., 74, 76, 78, 98, 100. 147

130.

89, 95, 99.

Utrecht.

Winchester. 81, 83, 145, 147.

Wales. 13, 18, 36, 38, 54, 66, 75 f., 81, 87, 89, 95 ff., 100, 105, 142 ff., 151. Walton-on-the-Naze. 89.

Watling

77.

Ubbe, son Ud. 138.

(VinheiSr). 100.

(Vinuskogar). 100.

Witlea. 108.

Wala. 119. Walcheren. 5,108

Turf-Einar. 27

Tyne.

Winaheath

Winawood

Worms.

Tunis. 19.

Turmod.

100.

.

^'

Tryggve. 34. Trondelag. 34.

Turgar. 82

Wiltonshire. 84.

the Stout. 30.

Troyes. 109.

106.

Wilton. 84.

Vinuskogar (Winawood) .100. Vrangmunn, son of Sigurd

Trier. 119.

Trond Mjoksiglande. Trondheim fjord. 56.

Willibrord.

2.

Wiltshire. 85.

114, 134.

113, 116,

2,

4.

mandy. 151

f.

Vaerdal. 34.

WiUiam

Valence. 113.

William of Poitiers. 129.

of

Malmesbury. 101.

yEthelwald, son of .^thelred. 91, 96.

^thelwerd. 149.; ^thelwulf of Wessex. 80

ff.

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